Nirvana
by RedSmileyFace
Summary: Previously written under the name grenwich. Rouge absorbs gambit. what will it take for them to be themselves again? chapter 12, Magneto's plans, angry Rogue, angry Gambit, and Bob.
1. my girl, don't lie

**Disclaimer: **Don't own nothing, no lyrics, no characters, no sanity.

**A.N.: **OK, I was depressed and I was listening to Nirvana. I was thinking how some of the songs, parts of them anyway, could be used to relate to the Rogue and Gambit relationship (the one I made up for this story, not the real one). Because I only took some of the song, the story of the song is not the same, just think of the lyrics I wrote in relation to Romy. And yes, some of these songs were not originally written by Nirvana, but their version is the only version I have heard, so that's why I'm attributing the songs to them.

**Where Did You Sleep Last Night**

**My girl, my girl, don't lie to me.**

**Tell me where did you sleep last night...**

Professor Charles Xavier sat in his study, silently using his powers. He sensed where each of his students was, if they were calm and asleep, and where his fellow teachers were, if they found anything about the student he couldn't reach.

Rogue, the student who truly needed his help, the one he couldn't help. Not yet, anyway. He usually felt fine with her leaving the house during the night to do whatever she pleased; she was the daughter of the Wolverine after all. There was no way he could stop her from drinking, smoking, leaving without warning. With her added psyche who woke up during the night while Rogue 'slept', she was all the more eager to do 'her' thing, whoever was in control at the time. He was just happy her spontaneity was predictable, knew what she was up to even though she did it randomly. But not tonight.

Around 1 am, he awoke from sleep upon hearing her shout in his head, then all of a sudden go quiet. It wasn't the shout of her being attacked, no, he knew that shout. It was the shout of her being forced to use her powers, as once before. He quickly contacted the fellow teachers to form a search party. Wolverine was ground, Storm was air, he was astral plane, Beast was communications, and Angel was gathering any information that might be useful from the night at the police office.

Ever since his niece (in name, not biologically) was forced to absorb Carol Danvers, she was hard to read with the extra mind in the head, but he was still able to trace, find, and usually read her unchecked thoughts. Not tonight. Something happened, she absorbed more and her mind was even harder to read.

"Charles, Logan has picked up her scent at one of the bars that Rogue mentioned Carol liked. He's going to follow it. Ororo is going to talk to the patrons at the bar; hopefully, some will still be awake and sober enough to remember... Warren reported that the police didn't pick up anything unusual tonight. What should I have him do?"

"Have him join Ororo. Perhaps they'll take her more seriously... Beast, I'm worried."

"We all are."

"The last time she had to cope with absorption, it was a whole person. What will happen to Rogue with more in her head? I should have the answers for her... I haven't a clue..."

"We all feel bad. We just have to go with the flow. The whole mutant thing means there are more and more new things that we have deal with. Rogue is the first and will probably be the only one with her type of mutation. It just makes it that much harder to know what to do. I know you are the last person that needs advice, but, don't be so hard on yourself."

Rogue woke up and looked around her. She didn't recognize anything. "Carol, where did you take us?" No answer. "Carol! Goddamn it! I'm not in the mood for your jokes!"

"Now, I've been told I was the jokester, but I've never been called Carol and I've never woken up in another body. I think the joke's on me for once."

Rogue froze. There was another voice in her head. With dread, she looked through Carol's memories of the night, and then visibly paled.

It was nearing 5:30 am, and Wolverine was getting stronger scents as he neared the end of the city, Bayville to be exact. Rogue was one of the few good things from his past still around, the one of two anchors that kept him sane, and he wasn't going to let her down. As he neared a cheap hotel, he dreaded what could have happened last night. He knew Carol liked to drag Rogue while she slept to strange places. Heck, how could you take the bad tendencies out of a person? Not by taking them out of the body, that's for sure.

"Excuse me sir, may I help you?" asked the hotel manager upon seeing the strange man enter his hotel.

"No, I know the room. My friend is there." In truth, he didn't know, but his sense of smell did. He walked up the stairs, wondering what the other smell was besides Rogue's; perhaps it was the person who attacked her?

He reached a room, and paused. "Hank, I think I found her. Have Ororo and Warren follow my signal and meet me here. I smell someone else, she isn't, or wasn't, alone. She if Chuck can sense who it is." A few minutes of waiting...

"Charles couldn't sense anything, not from the other person, not from Rogue. It would mean she absorbed the person completely. She's now unpredictable, more then usual. Be careful."

"Hank, that's still my girl in there. No matter how many people she has up there, she'll keep control."

"For your sake, I hope she does."

Wolverine opened the door. He was surprised to find Rogue just sitting there on the bed, no emotions. He walked up and could see her eyes were blank, meaning nobody was controlling the body. The psyches were vying for control. He looked around, looking for the person that might have been absorbed, but didn't find anything. He could smell spices and bourbon, but that was all, and it wasn't strong, as if the person was never there. As if the smell was coming off of Rogue.

"Hey, Logan."

Without looking, he knew he was talking to Carol, his daughter never called him by his real name. Sure enough, as he turned to look at her, blue eyes were staring back, and the white streaks of his daughter's hair had turned blond. "What happened last night, Carol?"

"I don't know! I was at the bar, having a good time, then this stranger grabbed me from behind. He attacked me! I tried to fight him off, I was getting successful, and then I don't know what happened afterwards. We woke up in this hotel room, and you came in."

Wolverine didn't trust Carol, he knew she was lying, but it would do no good to harm her. "Put Rogue back in charge."

"She's in shock. It wouldn't do you much good."

"OK, fine. When Storm and Angel get here, we're leaving for the mansion. You can tell Chuck the truth there."

"Didn't think you would believe me."

"Not a chance, Barbie."

"I could beat you up, fly away."

"You know that wouldn't work."

"Too bad for me."

It was now almost 7 in the morning. Most of the students were up and eating breakfast, getting ready for school. Angel and Beast were put in temporary charge that morning.

"Hey, like, where's Rogue?" asked the unlikely best friend of Rogue, Kitty.

Angel and Beast were given instructions on what to say, as the students didn't know anything about Rogue's past or absorption that happened a few years ago. Angel, the more used to speaking the truth without given the whole truth, spoke. "Rogue was attacked last night. She's in one of the med. rooms, and will be there all day. There is not much we know ourselves; we're going to try to find out today. Go about your day as normal, understood?"

"But, wha..."

"No questions now, OK? Later, the Professor will tell everyone what happened. Kurt, you are to stay behind, the professor already called you out of school for today."

As the students left for school, the boy called Kurt stayed behind, following Beast to the med. room. He was the only student who knew the whole truth of Rogue's past. Hell, he was her half-brother; they got close after their parents got together when they were seven. Even though they had different mothers, they felt they were closer then even twins could be.

He found in the room Rogue, sitting on the bed. He wanted to go to her, to talk to her, but Beast stopped him. "McCoy, what's wrong with her?"

"It seems that Carol forced Rogue to absorb a man... all the way. We can't find the body of the man. To make things worse, Carol won't tell us where he is and she won't let Rogue have the body back."

"Why was I told to stay behind if I can't talk to her, hug her, beat the lights outa Carol?"

"Your father thinks you would be a great help in finding the man. He wants you to meet him at the outskirts of the town after you make sure that Rogue is doing OK."

"Oh." The body of Rogue, as Kurt saw, was under the control of Carol, and she was not giving it up. She knew she couldn't leave the mansion, as much as she wanted to. She tried it once before, but was tracked by Wolverine and put into a painful sleep by the professor. Even though he couldn't read her mind, he could still hurt her mind. Plus, she couldn't keep control forever; Rogue would eventually gain it back. Kurt saw that the body was unharmed, and was relieved. He left the room via teleportation seeing that the professor was going to try to make his sister better. "Viel gluck mein hochschullehrer, mein schwester..." -1-

The professor started the conversation, "Carol, tell me, what did you do last night? And, please, don't lie to me."

"I'll tell you the truth, because there ain't nothing you can do about it. I'm pissed at you, all the x-men, and especially Rogue. She had no right to ruin my life. Yes, I attacked first, and she was the only one still unharmed, but she didn't have to absorb all of me! Now it's my turn. I figured more and more about this body, and I can control more and more. I'm going to ruin Rogue's life now. Either I get to go, absorbing more and more, or you're gonna imprison me forever. Either way, Rogue loses her life. Last night was the first step, killing someone. Of course, he is not dead yet, only in a coma, but without medical care, he will eventually die."

"Who did you attack? Where is he now?"

"Fuck if I'd tell you."

"Then, let's make a trip to the mind, shall we? I think it would be well worth it."

Carol shone fear in her eyes before Xavier exerted himself beyond safe measures to force himself in the mind of Rogue/Carol/unknown.

**In the pine, in the pine**

**Where the sun don't ever shine**

**I would shiver the whole night through**

In the hotel room, before Wolverine arrived, Rogue and Carol waged a battle in the mind, and Carol won. Rogue was left to wander in her own mind until Carol went to sleep. While Carol was dragged back to the mansion, questioned by the entire faculty, Rogue was looking for the person that was recently absorbed.

Rogue had fashioned her mind as a big forest, after her favorite childhood book character, Robin Hood, lived in the forest. It was Xavier's idea that she fashion her mind as a place to make it easier for him and her to make order in her mind. Most people don't fashion their mind in any way, but most people don't have to organize their mind to stay sane. The forest was a perfect symbol of how her psyches drifted farther and farther away in the trees until they no longer existed in her mind. The only thing she ever maintained of the people she absorbed was their memories. Carol would never leave, unless her link to her body was severed, as in Carol's real body was to perish. Xavier had hopes they could return Carol to her body, or at least let her have some semblance of a life with Rogue. No matter how much the two girls tried, there was always some sort of resentment between them. Lately, they had started to get along, agreeing upon the Rogue during the day Carol during the night arrangement. As far as Carol was concerned, she would never forgive Rogue. Rogue thought if she had to do it again, she would.

Rogue finally found the person in question. He, she knew it was a he with some of the memories she read before she was forced away from control, was in the coldest part of her mind, where the imaginary sun didn't peek through the leaves. The light was a pale green, her favorite, and saddest, color. It was here that all her sad memories were stored, and Carol's too. Carol must have pushed the person here to keep him quiet. She found the man, more like young adult, shivering and really cute. As she walked closer, she accessed his memories. In the mind, things are super speed. It would take her years to write down all she found out about him, days for him to tell her what was in his head, if he remembered all of it. But it took her a few minutes to process all he knew and experienced. She heard Carol growl at the fact that she had to suffer the headache of processing the memories, but Rogue didn't care, she didn't have to suffer, she wasn't in charge of or able to feel her brain, and Carol deserved it.

Crouching down to the shivering, sleeping Cajun, she blew into his ear, as she knew that would wake him up. He did, and she saw brilliant red on black eyes. He in turn saw gorgeous green eyes, unlike the cold blue eyes, in a kind face, unlike the stern face, and he was captivated. Eyes truly were the windows to the soul, and it makes all the difference, he mused. He was also surprised that she did not look too surprised or frightened of his own eyes.

'Get a hold of yourself, Remy.' "So, care to explain to me what happened? And where am I?"

"Think, and you'll find the answers."

He looked at her strangely, tried to remember what happened last night, and found he knew three versions of what happened. He also found he had memories of three different peoples' lives, including his own. Upon further investigation, he knew the scattered memories of about 20 other people. It was mind boggling to say the least. He heard someone groan, and the girl in front of him starting laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Carol is not enjoying the headache we are giving her."

"No, Remy reckons not. How did I know that? Don't answer that. This is too confusing. So, we are in your head?"

"Yeah. Sorry. Carol thought it..."

"Would be good to ruin your life." Gambit finished for her.

"Yeah. Like I said, sorry."

"Don't be, not your fault."

"Yes it is!" Rogue's face had dramatically fallen by now. "My stupid mutation! It's all I can do to stay sane with all these people in my head, and now, I have ruined two other peoples' lives as well, neither of them will forgive me!"

"Hey, Remy one of those people, you don't see Remy angry at you, do you?"

"Why?"

"Can't you read my thoughts and find out why?"

"Not new thoughts gained in my head. Same with Carol, and me. All we can share now are powers and memories, no thoughts. So, why are you so forgiving?"

"Just in Remy's nature, Cherie."

"I know you're lying. But you ain't gonna tell me, so I won't press it."

"Ah, so you are the person absorbed last night, and you are?" Addressed Xavier, coming into the clearing, dragging Carol by the wrist.

"My name is Remy LeBeau, at your service, Charles Xavier."

"Did not take you long to get used to your new surroundings, did it?"

"No, sir."

"Uncle Chuck, I'm really, really sorry about what happened..."

"Rogue, don't worry about it. I need you to tell me what happened to this young boy's body, so we can get him medical attention. Carol will not tell me where she had stashed him."

**His head was found on the driving wheel**

**But his body, never was found**

Wolverine was traveling around on his motorcycle. By the looks of it, he was slowly driving, enjoying the weather, looking at the scenery. But looks can be deceiving, Wolverine was trying to locate the scent of the man he smelled in the hotel, but was having no luck. "Hank, did the police come up with a body anywhere? Any filed missing reports? How about Kurt, he have any luck?"

"No, Logan. Warren and Ororo have so far have not had any luck with the police. Added with their reluctance with working with mutants, I do not think that working with the police would be a good thing."

"I agree, Hank. Do you think they could help me look for the man?"

"Xavier has asked for them to come back to the mansion to look after the kids. As for Kurt, he has not had any luck searching all the old warehouses Magneto abandoned after Carol was taken out."

"What is the prof's plan? It better be a good reason, I don't want Warren and Ororo to stop, not when this could torture Rogue later on. Killing a man she had no cause to..."

"Charles recently traveled in to the mind of Rogue. He is attempting to gain information there."

"Is it safe for him to do that?"

"He assured me before he went that it would be worth it and that it was probably the only way."

"I hope he's right." And Wolverine continued searching, talking with Beast, as he knew if he didn't he would loose his cool.

And in the mind of Rogue, Carol played mind games, something she was really good at. Not as good as Xavier, though. She had wrenched her wrist out of Xavier's hand and turned into a large dragon. Xavier himself turned into a griffin, and the two duked it out. A fireball came out of Carol's mouth, straight towards Rouge after Xavier dodged it. Gambit pushed her out of the way and was hit in the chest. As no one dies in the mind, he floated up. 'This must be what dying feels like.' It was not what dying felt like, as he would find out later. He opened his eyes, and gasped. In front of him was the concentrating face of the professor, to close for comfort. He got off the bed and was shocked at how easy it was to move. Not easier, more like there was less gravity pushing him down, not because he was more graceful. The reason? 'Oh, merde, a woman's body!' Upon further investigation of his new body, 'Hmmm, I could get used to this though...'

"Rogue! Wait, you're not Rogue. Not Carol either. Are you the third person?"

"How could you tell, McCoy?"

"Your eyes and hair. Red, black and red stripes instead of white. I guess you knew my name from Rogue's memory of me?"

"Yeah."

"How are you in control?"

"I was knocked out of the mind, not by choice, though I don't mind."

"Don't get me wrong, I was just curious, not angry. Not your fault, or is it?" McCoy suddenly realized that he had no idea what happened last night; maybe Rogue, or Carol, really was attacked?

"No. Remy was flirting with the girl, and then she led me out of the bar, made moves on me. Then she attacked me, I was totally surprised. Next thing Remy knows, there was a draining sensation, was becoming weak. Next, Remy was looking out of this body."

"Sorry for the suspicion. I have more questions, as I bet you do, but now is not the time. We need to find your body, do you know where Carol hid it?"

"Yes. It is in the river closest to the bar we were at. She placed my head on the ground and the rest of me in the river so that Wolverine couldn't smell me. I'm under the weeping willow, hidden from site. She didn't want my death on her hands, but she wanted me dead all the same."

"Stay here for a while, will you? I'm gonna call Wolverine and Kurt to tell them where you are, they should have your body here soon."

As much as Remy wanted to go outside and have a smoke, he knew from Rogue's memories that the mansion inhabitants knew nothing of Rogue's situation and it wouldn't be good if they saw her/him. Also, the teachers would be angry with him. The big thing that kept him there, they truly cared. So he sat there on the bed, waiting, getting used to a woman's body.

**My girl, my girl, where will you go?**

**I'm going where the cold wind blows.**

By the end of the day, Remy's body was found, dried off, and hooked up to some machines to keep him alive. Xavier subdued and severely weakened Carol, exited the mind and was currently taking medicine for the exertion his head was feeling from the whole ordeal. Wolverine was relieved that his daughter was going to be OK, though he yelled at Carol for a good while, and threatened Remy not to mess with his daughter. Kurt was happy Rogue was back, and celebrated by making them both a hot fudge sundae, the only thing he could make, food-wise. Rogue was back in control, refusing Carol any control, and talking to Remy, after she went to bed and fell into her mind as her body 'slept'. She didn't trust Remy just yet, but felt he was the best person there was to absorb completely.

She knew that her whole life was changed, and this incident was the start. She hoped that whatever was going to happen, it wouldn't send her over the edge. The students still didn't know what was going on, were told nothing upon coming home from school, but they would, as soon as Xavier was up from the Tylenol PM induced sleep the next morning.

**REVIEW PLEASE!**

1- "good luck my professor, my sister..." (German is a cool language, I think. I actually know very little German; just enough to say thank you, your welcome, hello, strawberry (ice cream), and exit. This translation is from the Internet, could be wrong.)

**A.N. **I finished this when I was back to being happy, so if you don't think this depressing enough, that's why. It took me more then a week to rewrite and add stuff and delete other stuff, I want this to be my serious story (more then usual), so... yeah. And, yes, too many notes, feel free to ignore what I write in my author's notes.


	2. Oh Me, part1

**Disclaimer: ** Io non possedo niente, NIENTE!

**A.N. **I've always hated Sinister, so he doesn't exist in this story. his usual cronies now work for Magneto, thought you should know, instead of springing it on you without explanation.

**A.N.2 **OK, I don't really like this chapter. The next is going to be better, I promise.

**A.N.3** Nirvana song starts in middle of story, not beginning. Case you were looking for it...

**Black Spades, heartsyhawk : **Thanks for liking my story!

**mysteriousfangirl : **Mystique is not going to be the cause of trouble in this story, although she does inadvertently start all the trouble. You'll see in this chap. Thanks for liking my story!

**Freak87 : **Hope I don't desecrate Nirvana, that would be bad for a Nirvana fan such as ourselves. You got the whole family thing in one shot; the mothers are in later chaps, including this one. Those last two paragraphs were rushed, I tried for a whole week to make it sound OK, but failed, (

**Oh Me**

Katherine Pride woke up with the sun shining through the window. She looked at the digital clock on her desk, and it read 8:44 am, and for a minute she panicked. 'Why didn't the alarm work?' Her mean subconscious answered for her as the fog went from her mind, 'Because it's Saturday, dumbass.' With that, Kitty relaxed, and got up. She was headed for the bathroom across the hall to ensure she got a shower before the other girls woke up, but stopped as she smelled wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. Forgoing a shower till after breakfast, she headed to the kitchen. She found the back of Rouge, facing the stove and cooking, something she rarely did.

"Like, Rouge! You're OK!"

It took Rouge St. Marie Howlett a few seconds to reply, something else that was different, "Yeah, Kit... I heard I raised quite a stir yesterday morning."

Kitty, not fully awake, did not notice the uncharacteristic pause, "We're all just happy that you are OK, and not hurt. Mr. Worthington made it sound like you were in serious pain. And Mr. McCoy, like, wouldn't say anything when we came back from school. Of course, all of the other adults here were gone for the day. Why were they gone? What happened?"

"Ahh... Kit, look, I really don't want to talk about it. Besides, Chuck and dad said we were gonna finally tell the students everything today, whether I want to or not."

"Rouge... how come you never wanted to tell us your history? It, like, sounds serious, like, part of your mutation. I know your mutation is a touchy subject, no pun, but who here doesn't have a problem with their powers? Take me, it took me, like, almost a month to touch anything again, it freaked me out. Was I gonna starve to death? I missed hugging my mom. I, like, got through that, you know you can get through whatever it is, too."

Rouge went back to cooking the huge breakfast that 'he' started, relieved to know that she could finish what he started. Finishing was easier then starting, in her opinion. After a few seconds, "Kit, I feel... I feel so ashamed at what happened last night." At the silence indicating Kitty was willing to listen, "I was told it was not my fault, and you would say the same, but I can't shake the feeling. It all started five years ago, when I was 14 years old, when you and everybody else weren't here yet. I get the feeling that if I just... I just... you know, I can't finish that sentence."

Kitty, the contradictory gossip/friend, knew that she made more ground then ever before with Rouge's feelings and past, she didn't want to push it. If it took weeks, Rouge would tell her more and more each day. She felt that she would get a lot of information later on that day, but she wouldn't get anything about Rouge's feelings and fears, what she really wanted to know, in order to get closer to her friend. And, yes, to her brother, but that was just an added bonus, what really mattered was her friend. Not pushing the topic, she stated, "Rouge, you know I'm your friend, I would never look down on you, you know that, don't you?"

Hearing her younger friend without her chippiness and without using 'like' once, Rouge was touched. "Thanks, Kitty."

"What's that smell? Reminds me of home." Samuel Guthrie, Cannonball, fellow southerner, entered the kitchen.

"Like, hey Sam. I have no idea, but it smells good, what is it Rouge?"

"I have no idea, I got it from one of my voices in my head." It was not the whole truth, but at least it wasn't a lie. What happened was Rouge gained Remy's trust during the night and accquiesed to him taking over for a bit to cook a big Cajun breakfast for the house. He told her that cooking always made him feel good, and she happened to agree with him. Remy's real reason was that he wanted to make the girl happy after her feeling guilty all night for absorbing him.

After breakfast, Kitty got her shower, after three hours of waiting for other students getting their shower. It was around 1pm when the professor called for all the students to come to the living room.

The big living room, filled with comfortable couches and seats, coffee tables, paintings and pictures, was still roomy as all the inhabitants of the mansion filled the seats. In front of the elaborate windows with curtains (not too expensive, as they would get ruined eventually, by the inhabitants or enemies) stood the Howlett family, minus Mystique, and Xavier. Rouge looked downcast, as if she was embarrased or feeling extremely apologetic, something none of the other students usually saw. Kurt and Logan looked defiant, almost proud, being the strong pilars for their girl. Xavier was the calm one, as always, and everyone relaxed, waiting for Xavier to start.

But he did not start, it was not his story. The Wolverine started, "You will not say anything until the stroy is done." He added a glare to ensure that no one talked out of line, then started again. "As you know, me and my two kids were here before you all were, even before Scott and Jean. Mystique, my ex-wife, knew Xavier through Lensherr, she was friends with them before I ever knew them. We met them quite a few times, even saw Chuck walk before the Savage Land incident. Kurt and Rouge got to calling them both Uncles. Anyway, we were invited to live here, all four of us, after Charles heard that Rouge and Kurt manifested their powers and Kurt changed appearance."

From the shocked faces about Kurt, Kurt picked up the story, "I was not always blue with a tail and yellow eyes, I was a black haired blue eyed white boy until I was about 11 years old. Rouge and me gained our powers early in life because our bodies matured faster then other bodies. Anyway, we came here and started a new life with Uncle Chuck and Aunt Ororo. There were other mutatns here, but they either moved on to college, like Warren here, who came back to teach, or they moved on in their lives, coming back to visit sometimes, you all know Betsy? She was one. Or, some of them died."

;';';';';';';';';';';';';';'

**If I had to lose a mile**

**If I had to touch feelings**

**I would lose my soul**

**The way I do**

A young and innocent Rouge sat in the rec room with some of the older mutants, the ones that tolerated her, Yu Shu'Lien (Tiger) -1- , Betsy Braddock (Psylocke), Warren Worthington the 3rd (Angel) and Cortez (no code name, yet) -2- . The other mutants, including her brother, were either at the mall or swimming in the pool. She was currently unbeaten in the game of Soul Caliber. It didn't matter how much fun she was having though, she could still hear the shouting coming from Uncle Chuck's study...

"I'm taking the kids with me, you can't keep my babies from me!"

"One, Rouge is not yours! And yes I can! They are mine too! I won't see them get hurt or used by that madman you call a leader!"

"He's not a madman! He has more sense then you ever could! Gahh! To think I married a man who didn't care about the future!"

"Don't you dare accuse me of that, I'm always thinking of our children!"

"NO! You think about _her _all the time! How can you raise your children under those circumstances!" Ororo Munroe, recently arrived, also in the room, cringed as Mystique pointed at her. Hank McCoy, also recently arrived, shuffled his feet, obviously feeling out of place.

"This is no time for that, I love my children more then life itself! How can you accuse me of putting my interests above them? You were once like that, caring, what happened? All you care about..."

"Don't shift the blame to me! I love both of them! I'm doing what I think is right for them!"

"If I may," interrupted the calm presence of Xavier, and a nice quite filled the mansion "I don't doubt you both love your children, it's time you both realized that." He took a pause to ensure they acknowledged that fact and gave each other grudging apologetic glances before he continued, "Logan, remember that Eric just has different views then us, it doesn't mean he is crazy or a madman. Raven, I ask you to consider your children, they have both been moved twice in their lives, and have finally settled here. Kurt triumphantly told me that he emptied the last box from the move nearly two years ago." He smiled at the memory and noticed the twitch of the couple's mouths, as if they wanted to hold in the smile. "Also, I know that you do not want your children to fight, but you must know that Eric will make them fight, or do some type of work for him."

"And you wouldn't do the same?" sneered Mystique.

Wolverine, now realizing his wife's fears, spoke up, "No, we won't make our children do what you don't want them to do. I won't let them follow in our footsteps, as we both fear. They will not become agents in a war."

Raven Darkholm Howlett finally looked at her husband's eyes with her own eyes, ones that did not belie her fears. He also barred his fears for her. After all they suffered and survived, they still felt the fear for weapon-x. She wasn't really angry at Logan, just angry that they couldn't stay together, that their wonderful family had to separate, and she was taking it out on the only man who really understood her. "I'm sorry."

"Me too."

"I wish that we shared the same about what to do, but I don't think that's going to happen, is it?"

"No. For what it's worth, I know the kids would rather be with you, you're more lenient when it comes to them."

"Thanks, Jimmy. I would rather not say this in public, but this is the only time I'll be able to tell you this, Ororo... is a... wonderful... woman." By now, she was crying. The other adults, knowing the fight was coming to an end, left. Raven then continued talking to her husband. "That's all. I really don't want to give you up, but if I don't, you'll never speak to me again. I know that we will still talk and love each other, even if we're on different sides of the board, so I'm not afraid to ask you for a divorce."

"Are you sure Raven? We did promise to work anything that came our way..."

"...With our children in our mind. They'll understand. I'll still see them later. But I saw the way you and Ororo look at each other, you never looked at me that way. We always stayed together because we had so much to gain by staying together. It shouldn't have been through marriage though. The kids like her too. I'm... going to say good-bye to them, then leave... as soon as I'm packed." She left the room, Logan still standing there, crying for the fifth time in his life.

Rouge, still sitting in the rec room, was also crying. The older teens had left as soon as the loud screaming had stopped, knowing Rouge would be OK. But she was not. About ten minutes after the screaming stopped, she felt arms around her shoulders and the smelled the faint smell of her mother's strawberry shampoo. "Hey momma."

"Hey girl... you know I love you right?"

"Yeah, momma."

"Good. I bet you heard...?"

"Yeah. You'll write? Call?"

"I wouldn't dare not call you, write you. I would never, ever, ever forget you or your brother, never." She emphasized that by squeezing extra hard.

Raven didn't want to let go of her daughter, but she had to, she had to leave and do the thing that she thought best for her children, in the end. After crying 20 min. with her daughter, she walked outside, leaving Rouge still crying in the rec room. She found Kurt cannonballing into the pool. She smiled, but couldn't stop crying. After his head resurfaced, "Kurt! I would like to talk to you." And they talked, in private, on the backyard porch facing the woods. It took over an hour for Raven to explain everything to her son. He was very much the hyper child, carefree and loveable, and never caught on to his parent's problems like Rouge did. They also cried for a long while, hugging and promising to keep in touch.

Leaving Kurt to cry on the backyard porch, she entered the mansion for the last time and walked to the front door. She said good-bye to all the students, they all came back from shopping or swimming, hearing the news that their history teacher was leaving. Never let it be said that Raven Darkholm Howlett did not care for the mutant kids.

At the door, she first shared a hug with Ororo Munroe, rather reluctantly though. They didn't say anything, but their looks said plenty. Ororo was given permission, but with the understanding that she would die if a toe was out of line.

Raven then said good-bye again to James, hugging him fiercely, both of them still crying. "I'll... send the papers for the... divorce."

"Take your time, darlin... Take care."

"You to. I hear anything about my children not being treated right, you gonna get it mister."

"You got it, mother-bear." They shared a last smile before Raven walked out to the taxi in the guise of a white-skin, red-hair, brown-eyed woman.

;';';';';';';';';';';';';';';

Rouge continued the story, the first time she spoke since breakfast, "Mystique" everyone noticed she didn't call her by momma, as she used to, "was successful with Magneto. Her job for the man was reconnaissance work, information gatherer, and recruiter. She hated to fight, after the many years she had to kill for weapon-x. One of the last missions she had before she left Magneto was to recruit a girl by the name of Carol Danvers. A girl who was suffering in New York from mutant hate groups. Her powers were invulnerability, flight, and super-strength, but she was still suffering, she didn't know how to defend herself. Mystique was successful recruiting her, and Carol worked for Magneto. For a few months, before we even knew Carol was there, she was learning to fight and to infiltrate, all that wonderful take-over-the-world stuff.

"A few weeks after her acceptance of Magneto's offer, she was sent with some of the brotherhood members to weaken the x-men. Magneto was planning something, and he wanted us out of the picture. He told his people not to kill anyone, but Carol did anyway..."

Angel, who knew most of the story from here, picked up the story from across the room...

;';';';';';';';';';';';';'

Xavier was wandering the house, noticing the quiet. Entering the kitchen where Logan was, he asked what all the kids were doing. "Warren is bumming in his room, high school basically over for him, lazy senior. The other students that are still in high school are studying for finals that are coming up. They actually want to pass. I think the promise of summer is inspiring them. Kurt and Rouge, not weighed down by high school, went out with Raven for the night."

"Oh. When was the last time they all went out?"

"A few weeks ago."

"Wasn't that when Magneto came over to talk to me?"

"Yeah, she was afraid he might start something."

"Logan, you don't think she took them tonight because she's afraid something is going to happen, do you?" No sooner had he asked that when they heard a scream. "That was Betsy! Let's go Logan." But he didn't get very far. Unbeknownst to them, Vertigo was outside the kitchen window, and she had used her powers to make the two men faint from nausiousness.

Upstairs, Warren Worthington the 3rd was fighting for his life. There were almost as many brotherhood members as there were x-students, and they were fighting one-on-one. His girlfriend Betsy Braddock, was taken out first, by surprise. As always, it is a good strategy to take out the telepath first. From what he could gather, Wolverine and Xavier were taken out as well, no yells from the PE teacher or thoughts from the english professor.

Currently, he was flying to dodge the fireballs coming from the pyro, John Allerdyce. The pyro was only 16, so Angel, 18, had more experience. All Pyro would do was stand there and shoot fire from his lighter. And all Angel had to do was dodge, and move around the flying dragon to deliver a right hook to the face. The dragon disappeared as Pyro stumbled, and Angel used that to come in and hit him again. Pyro, knocked unconscious, fell to the floor.

Angel flew out of his room to help his fellow x-students. He came upon Tiger first in the hallway, the sword-wielding Asian, and started helping her fight the beautiful blond girl who he had never seen before. Instead of asking questions, he flew towards her to throw a punch, she sidestepped him. Using his flying momentum, he pivoted in the air 180 degrees to kick her, but was blocked. Tiger was coming to hit the girl at the base of her head with the side of her green iron-sword, and Angel moved to give her room. But the sword broke when it came into contact with the blonde's head. She turned around to a stunned Tiger, and punched her, knocking her unconscious. Angel flew to help, but was flying out the window as the blond kicked him in the stomach.

He stopped himself before he hit a tree, and flew back into the mansion. He saw he was too late. The girl had moved on, but not before taking the adamantium broad-sword and slicing Tiger's throat. He dropped to the floor, unsure what to do next, rage building...

After the silence was noticeable, as either his friends or the Brotherhood had won, he flew to the foyer. In the foyer, a lone teenager stood in the middle of a melee. Cortez was is name and he had fought off about five members of Magneto's crew. Earlier, he had walked through the mansion, looking for fellow students, but found none still conscious. He had literally walked into a trap when he walked in to the foyer, as enemies came exited the shadows. Easily the most experienced x-student, after Tiger, he looked at the people and looked for the most powerful. Charging the blond haired girl he recognized as Vertigo, he dodged her ripples of nausea and touched her, she immediately lost control. Cortez was sure to stay behind her at all times, until all the others were on the ground, puking or unconscious, including Angel who just flew in. He then hit Vertigo at the base of her head, knocking her unconscious.

He was now facing off the dangerous blond teenager, who had hid behind a pillar during Vertigo's burst. His hands glowed white as he tried to amplified her powers. But she moved away from the white light, dropping the broad sword in the process, and flying up and around him. She punched him, and he flew out the door. She followed him out, flying with light-speed. Landing on top of him, chocking him with her super-strength foot. He did not die from lack of air, though, he died as her shoe smashed his throat, and he was beheaded.

The house was eerily quiet, except for Angel puking in the foyer looking even more sick from watching Cortez loose his head. The blonde girl was walking back to the house, ready to finish Angel, when two more mutants appeared before her. She could tell they were younger then her, but she did not care. "Who are you?" asked the boy.

"Your doom." She flew to him and grabbed his throat. He bamfed away, a few feet, but away from her. He was still chocking from her extra-strong grip, not able to get back up. She turned to the girl, "And what could you possibly do? Pout me to death? Cry and make me die? What! You're so pathetic, you just stand there, and looking lost, why are you here? How could you possibly defeat me?" With that she flew at the girl, locking her throat in her gloved hands. She wanted to watch the weak excuse for a human loving mutant die slowly. She did not pay attention as the girl brought her hands to her face, most likely wanting to scratch her face to let her go, but it wouldn't matter.

**I can't see the end of me**

**My whole expanse I cannot see**

**I formulate infinity**

**Stored deep inside me**

But it did matter. She felt a draining sensation. She tried to pull away, but her face was glued to the hands holding her face. She tried squeezing harder on the throat, but she was now weak. She fell to her knees, letting go of the girl, but the girl did not let go of her. She lost sensation in her legs, torso, stomach, hands, arms, shoulders. She felt like she was in the middle of sleep and wake, when a last pull pulled her away from her body. The last thing she heard, "I'm so sorry, Carol Danvers."

The last thought, 'How does she know my name?'

;';';';';';';';';';';';';';';';'

**The results are always perfect**

**And that's old news**

"And that was the last I saw before I passed out." Finished Angel. Not knowing if the story was finished, some of the students looked to the Wolverine to confirm it was done. The questions came in a jumbled mess.

"What happened to Carol?" "Did the hood members leave?" "Was Magneto's plans thwarted?" "How did Rouge not show Carol's personality all this time?" "You said Mystique left Magneto, where and why?" "How did Kurt and Rouge know to come back?"

Professor Xavier stopped the questions coming with the mere raising of his hand. "Since I was lucky to hear the questions, I will answer them. Magneto planned to set up a base in the Savage Land, from which to recruit more mutants then to launch nuclear weapons. With Carol's memories, Rouge was able to tell us and, yes, thwart his plans. Kurt and Rouge came back as Raven slipped the fact that the mansion was under-attack. Against her wishes, they left. After realizing that Carol killed two mutants and was about to kill Kurt and Rouge, and that Magneto didn't care that much, she left to Germany, to ashamed to come here. The Brotherhood were allowed to leave without contest. Some of the younger ones, roped into Magneto's ideals, came back after realizing Magneto's flaws."

Rouge picked up, knowing what the professor was going to talk about next, wanting to say it herself, "It took me almost a year to calm Carol down and not have headaches anymore. We agreed to a switch, me by day, Carol by night. We found out that if part of the brain slept half the time, it was workable. By that time, we were in high school and Scott and Jean made an appearance. Then the rest is history."

silence, stunned silence-

1- Tiger is a recurring character in my stories, I'm planning on it anyway. Tiger is a mix of Matrix and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Her powers include knowing all the fighting techniques in the world and then some. She has two swords, a green-tinted iron sword that is flexible, and a white adamantium broad sword that is inflexible. The swords are from her ancestors, and they give her wisdom and strength. She is young in this story, unlike the other stories.

2- Cortez is not my creation and not a well known character. I only ever seen him in the old x-men cartoon, and in very few episodes. He has the powers to amplify other's powers (I think), thus having them loose control. He was, not anymore, the friend of Remy LeBeau, but became an acolyte of Magneto. He is a very fanatical, bordering crazy, guy. I changed him for this story.


	3. Oh Me, part 2, other songs

**Oh Me part 2**

**On A Plain**

**Lake of Fire**

**Would you like to hear my voice,**

**Sprinkled with emotion**

**Invented at your birth?**

Rogue and Kitty were sitting in their room after the meeting. Rogue was sitting on her bed, remorse on her face. Kitty was sitting on her bed, facing Rogue, her face showing thought. The silence was thick in the air.

Kitty started the conversation. "So, you have Carol's powers? And Remy's too? That's what happened last night?"

"Yeah."

More silence.

"Must be hard having conversations with two other people. What if people overhear you? I think I overheard you once, something about how cute Warren is?"

"Yeah. It's hard. At first, she wouldn't shut up, and I was talking, trying to shut her up. Kurt thought it was a hoot, he got a bloody nose for that."

A smile on her lips as she remembered that.

"You know what I said this morning? About not judging you, not looking down on you? I don't. I can't imagine dealing with that, extra people, and one that tried to kill you... How do you do it?"

"I don't know. I... I...I almost lost it Kitty!" And she started to cry, sobbing. Kitty was taken aback, Rogue never showed this much emotion. Kitty rose from her bed and went to Rogue, hugging her and stroking her hair.

"I miss momma! I miss her! When she left, I said I would never miss her! But I do! I was so scared, and she just left! How could she? Dad and Kurt were helpful, but I needed her! God, Kitty, I miss her!" Kitty, proof there are good friends out there, just continued to hug Rogue, stroking her hair, and being a general good presence. Rogue calmed down a little. "The worst part, Kitty? The funeral for Shu'Lien and Cortez, seeing their families. They thanked me for avenging their children's death. I did not want their thanks. Neither did Carol, she was screaming through the whole funeral. I felt I let the two down, or something. If only I was there earlier or something."

"I'm sure there was nothing different you could have done. Yeah, they might be alive, or you might be dead, or something else. You can't, like, keep guessing what could have been. You, like, have to move on with life. Did you know them well?"

"I knew Tiger, she was awesome." They separated from the hug, but still sat on Rogue's bed. "She was the best fighter ever. Don't matter the genes, she really fought with a passion, and knew how to hold back and had all these theories. She was a great friend too, I think you guys might have gotten along pretty well."

Silence, again.

"Her father gave me her broad sword, they kept the broken iron sword. The white sword is in the back of my closet, would you like to see it?"

"Like, totally!"

With that, the sword was brought out for the first time in five years. Rogue shared stories with Kitty about her friend, and the other older generation mutants that aren't kids anymore. They talked about Rogue's family before she and Kurt manifested powers. They talked about Kitty's family, how some things were similar. How Kitty was falling for Kurt, how Rogue thought Angel was still cute, even after all those years. They talked about maybe going on a mall trip tomorrow.

"Kitty, thanks. You know, it's really great to finally talk to someone about it, someone with a different view. Thanks... I feel lots better, more then I have for a while now."

"No problem, Rogue.

It was nighttime. She was talking to Remy again, mostly about the different memories he had. She realized that she was not the only one with a history of problems and dealt with them by withdrawal. Of course, she had his memories, but she did not have his feelings and thoughts about the memories.

"So, you really do care about your family? You didn't leave just because you were angry and resentful?"

"Non. Remy left to protect his family from the wrath of the assassins. You know they wanted to either expel me or kill me and my family for disgracing their 'Princess'?"

"Yeah, I know."

"Remy non gonna get used to this any time soon."

"You think you gonna get used to not getting laid?"

Remy, cocky as ever, "Who said Remy wasn't gonna get laid? Can't two women go at it? I'll just find a nice lesbian when you're sleeping and charm her."

Red was forming on Rogue's cheeks, out of anger and embarrassment, "Besides the fact that this is my body, and I won't let you do something to embarrass me, I was talking about not being able to touch! I wasn't talking about women! God! Men are such pigs!"

Remy regretted what he said; it was not very often he came upon women who couldn't have sex. "Sorry, chere. I forgot for a moment there. I was only joking, not really meaning anything said." Talking in first person convinced Rogue he was talking the truth. "Chere... personal question?"

"We're stuck together, for a long time. If I don't like the question, too bad. It's gonna be answered sooner or later."

"The farther back Remy looks into the past, the more confused the memories get. Remy sees all o' our memories, and Remy can't find the reason you call yourself 'Rogue'. How about a direct answer from you?"

"My biological mother named me. She had a habit of no protection and then aborting kids. She was sick. I was the rogue baby that survived, so she named me that before giving me up to dad. The only good thing she ever did, letting me live, according to dad that is."

"And your middle name, St. Marie, is your mother's last name?"

"Yeah."

"Why do people never call you just Marie?"

"Cause my dad likes 'Rogue' better, and I agree with him."

"Good reason... Another topic that I want to talk about... why do you still feel guilty about absorbing Carol? It wasn't your fault, and you can see Remy done far worse then you could ever."

"I could have let go, stop absorbing her."

"She would have returned for more. You know she was a killer, look at Shu'Lien, Cortez, and numerous New Yorkers. You did them a favor."

"Still feel the pain. Especially since she reminds me 24/7."

Getting no where with that conversation, Remy tried another approach, "Speaking of the devil, where is Carol?"

**I can't see the end of me**

**My whole expanse I cannot see**

**I formulate infinity**

**Stored deep inside me**

Carol was roaming the forest of Rogue's mind, gathering strength after the fight with Xavier, which she lost. She was almost back to her full strength. During her travels, she thought about her situation, something she rarely did. It mostly dealt with how she could make Rogue's life more miserable, but after thinking, she came with a more sinister plan then sticking more people in this hellhole. Her plan, if she was correct about brains and memories in general, would make Rogue go insane and almost an invalid.

Coming to the part of the forest where sad memories were stored, she saw Rogue and Remy talking. Carol felt a twinge of jealousy, she wanted Remy to be angry, but here he was, a nice guy. She got rid of that feeling, and walking towards them, she made her presence known, "Hey, Rogue, can I talk to you alone?"

"If it's another one of your rants, I'm gonna pass."

"No, it's not that. I was thinking, and I came across something, I need to talk to you about it."

Intrigued, she looked at Remy for some help. "Remy gonna leave, Take the body, get something to eat." With that, he got up and disappeared, having taking over the body.

Rogue looked back at Carol, waiting for her to speak. She didn't have to wait long, "Hey, Rogue, you know about my history, right?"

"Yeah."

"You know when I took extra bio classes? How I studied extensively the brain?"

"Yeah, where is this going?"

"I was thinking about your brain. You know how lots of memories can be stored. And with each new thing learned, a new wrinkle forms. And that most humans use less then half of their brain. What I was thinking that in your case, since you have two other people in your head, more of your brain is being used..."

"...And there isn't much more room for more..."

"...People. Exactly! I want to ruin your life, but if I forced you to absorb more, the brain will become damaged, we will become damaged. I don't know about you, but I don't want to become insane." _Of course, only you would become insane, I think, but I'm not gonna tell you that._

Rogue could see that Carol was not saying something, but decided to ignore it. "So you have to think of something else to ruin my life, don't you?"

"Yeah... perhaps I'll embarrass you, rather then hurt you. Though with Gambit in here, that's might be hard. I was hoping he would side with me."

"I thought he would side with you..."

"So... yeah. I just wanted to talk about that with you. I seems that we don't have limitless space to absorb, though we should check with McCoy, just to be sure. My theory seems to be backed by the fact that the forest seems to be getting more crowded, like the trees are closing in on each other. Have you ever seen the edge of the forest?"

"No. I tried once, but I just kept walking and walking. There seems to be no end in sight."

"Well, I think the end might be arriving soon if more people come in here. I won't absorb anymore people, you can be sure of that." With that note, Carol left the Rogue to think about what was just said.

**I love myself better then you,**

**I know it's wrong so what should I do?**

Remy was in the kitchen. It was now after 12 in the morning, but he didn't care, it was a long while since he had the taste of food. Granted, only three days, and Rogue did eat, but still, he liked the act of tasting and eating food. He was about to take a bite from his sandwich, which he had slaved for the past 15 minutes to make, when his eyes changed to blue and he, now a she, put the sandwich down. 'Carol! What are you doing!'

'Yeah, Remy worked hard for that sandwich!'

"I'm taking over."

'What about what we were talking about?'

"That was to let your guard down. Now that I have control of the brain, I put shields around the mind, so you can't stop me."

'What are you going to do?'

"You'll see." And as Rogue and Remy banged on the shield Carol set up, Carol walked to the second floor, where the students and two of the teachers (for protection) were sleeping. "Rogue, I told you I wasn't going to absorb anyone, and that was partly true. I'm not going to absorb anyone... completely, that's the whole truth. And just to let you know, you would be going crazy, not me. I'll explain later, as I have work to do." Opening the first door on the second floor, not paying attention to anything Rogue and Remy were screaming at her, she walked towards the bed. She took a second to look at the sleeping form of Ororo Munroe before grabbing the sides of her face, absorbing her for a few minutes, then letting go. The weather witch slumped back to sleep, never knowing what happened. The next door opened to reveal a messy room with a sleeping Logan. 'Leave dad alone!' "No."

Hearing his daughter speak and smelling her as well, Logan woke up. "Shit!" The intruder said. It was then Logan knew it wasn't Rogue, but Carol or Remy. He didn't have a chance to think on whom it was as he was hit in the stomach, hard. There was a fist going towards his head, going to knock him out, he dodged it. The person in front of him grabbed a piece of clothing from the floor and charged it, but not too much, and threw it at Logan, and he moved out of the way, popping his claws.

"You going to hurt your daughter?" Spoke the intruder, with a hint of sarcasm.

Logan growled in his anger, retracting his claws, choosing instead to get into a fighting stance. The intruder flew towards Logan, careful not to make too much noise. Logan sidestepped the flying body of Rogue, turned around to see her fly around, aiming kick at his face. He blocked the kick, throwing a punch to the face. Her hand grabbed it. Normally, a punch by Logan would have hurt like a mother… but with Carol's strength, it didn't hurt at all.

Logan felt a draining sensation, finally realizing that her hands, one that was holding his fist, were not covered. Falling back into sleep, unwillingly, he crumpled to the ground.

After that, Carol quickly did the same to most of the other students, ignoring all the obscenities Rogue was screaming and the pounding of her head from Remy trying to blow up the shield. It didn't help that the other people now in the head were screaming too. She was almost done, though. 'It's a shame that Xavier and Jean are such powerful telepaths; else I would have absorbed them too. Must remember to get the teachers next.' She reached the last door of the student rooms, and she entered. Seeing Kurt, she crept up to him, haltingly though. 'I won't let you hurt him!' screamed Rogue. The body froze in the middle of the room.

**And one more special message to go **

**And then I'm done, then I can go home **

Groaning and struggling against Rogue's hold, Carol started moving again. 'Rogue, I have hated you ever since you showed your weak face. I won't let you stop me! This is my vengeance! Once done, you won't be sane much longer! Even after the voices leave, you're still going to be insane! Then I know I have done what I wanted.' She was reaching for Kurt's face, absorbed a little of him, when the shield was broken by Rogue's scream. Carol stumbled back, eyes turning green. They turned blue again and she rushed Kurt, 'You don't need him, Carol! There are already too many voices in here!'

'No, you need to suffer a little more. So does your annoying brother.' 'NO!' Once again, Carol stumbled, stumbled forwards, her hand landing on Kurt's face, absorbing more of him.

Green-eyed Rogue gasped and pulled away, tears newly forming on her face. Sitting on the floor in Kurt's room, Rogue panted with the effort of controlling her body. Her newly absorbed people helped her. For the first time, she truly felt anger, burning anger, towards Carol. She screamed out in frustration and an idea came to her. Using the temporary power of teleportation, she went to the med lab.

She walked to the room that the body of Carol was laying, and froze on spot, her determination fading. Her mind was a jumble; she didn't know what she wanted to do.

**Now the people cry and the people moan**

**And they look for a dry place to call their home**

**And try to find some place to rest their bones**

**While the angels and the devils try to make them their own**

Torn between two choices, Rogue debated what to do. It didn't take much for the people in her head to know what she was planning, and they started talking to her. Most wanted her to leave the lab, they didn't want her to feel guilty later. Some offered the reason that Carol didn't deserve it, but not a lot recommended that. Some others thought that Carol deserved it and were rooting Rogue on. All this while holding Carol back so no on could take control of Rogue's body.

So Rogue just stood there, thinking for herself. She knew the voices were talking, offering suggestions, but she didn't pay attention. She wanted the choice to be hers, not influenced by anyone.

**Where do bad folks go when they die?**

**They don't go to heaven where the angels fly**

**They go down to the lake of fire and fry**

**Won't see them again 'till the fourth of July**

'I've been told that everyone deserves a second chance. Carol already had hers, didn't she? But didn't she suffer for life? What right do I have to end hers? If it was just me absorbing her, but it's more then that now... she absorbed, almost killed Remy, she haunted all my fellow students... she haunted me. What happened to the nice girl from New York? Her parents and some thugs ruined her. That's right, they ruined her! I didn't! I don't deserve any of this!'

Rogue reached for the plug of the machine keeping Carol alive. With her father's borrowed powers, she heard Xavier, Hank, Warren and some of the other teachers coming down the hall, and using Amara's borrowed powers, she melted the metal door into the wall. It would take them awhile to break down the 'new' wall.

Touching the wire of the plug, she thought some more, 'With the pull of this plug, the anchor keeping Carol alive will stop existing, Carol will eventually fade. The question, do I do it?' Grabbing the plug, she turned her attention to Carol's body, noticing the beautiful golden hair, the innocent face, the small and vulnerable arms, and the fragile body. 'No wonder she manifested super-strength. This is the real Carol; she died when she killed her first man, when she continued to kill. She almost came back to life, but then she found that she could hurt me, and went back to being dead to reason. She's never going to be the real Carol again.'

With that, Rogue pulled the plug.


	4. Sunbeam interlude

**Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam**

**Don't expect me to cry...**

**Don't expect me to lie...**

**Don't expect me to die for thee...**

I felt like crying, I felt like screaming, I felt like hitting something. As it was, I sat there on my chair in front of my desk, staring at the picture of me, me with blue eyes and blond streaks in my brown hair. It was a school picture, and she took control at the last minute to get her features immortalized, it was the only picture of her and me together. I could still feel her voice in my head, she hadn't disappeared completely yet, and it was four weeks since I pulled the plug.

I looked at the picture next to it, a picture of Dad, Mom (in name only, I reminded myself), me and Kurt standing in front of a rose bush, smiling. It was from before she left father and the x-men to fight for Magneto, before I absorbed Carol. I could still feel the hate I had for her, she was partly to blame for me absorbing Carol.

I shifted my eyes to the picture of the man in my head, a man by the name of Remy Lebeau. He wanted me to go New Orleans to settle some things, but I didn't want to, rather, I didn't want to live my life following suggestions from my absorbed charges.

All three, Carol, mom and Remy, were dead, or close to it.

Mystique was almost killed by Carol's hand, but I still felt guilty, I did little to stop her (disregard the fact I was weak, and so was Remy). She came back home after she heard that I absorbed another person and that I had killed Carol. Carol was not happy, and since, at the time, she was still pretty prominent in my head, she took over one last time. She threw her a punch, another, another, a kick for the heck of it, making sure to give Mystique a bloody nose. Kurt attempted to stop her, but she knocked him back, and he hit his head, knocked unconscious. Remy and I tried to gain control, but she beat us down and we were weak (I had refused to eat and Remy was still kind of new to the whole different body thing). Mom (in name only, I forced myself to remember) was unconscious, but Carol kept kicking by now her defenseless body. The last thing she did was to take a rock and fling it at her head, it was no small rock either. I'm just happy she didn't die, although I'm still angry. After that, Carol just sat there until dad and Uncle Chuck came. She couldn't run away. I was furious at Carol, and, surprisingly, sad for mom. I was angry at Mystique, yes, but she was still my mom.

At the med lab, Dad and Kurt cried and hardly left her side; Mystique is in a coma now. They knew it wasn't my fault but still didn't talk to me. I didn't cry. I completely forgot the incident, refusing to remember that I (it was her, but it might as well have been me) severely hurt my own mother. It wasn't hard to forget, Carol was being a bitch at the time. I wouldn't cry for mom (in name only), I would never. How could I? She was the reason Carol and I were stuck together! She left us! She hardly talked to us in the five years! In my room, in front of my desk, a few days later, holding her, no, our, picture, I cried.

My thoughts wandered to Carol, how she, the newest member of Mag's crew at the time, how I took her out of the battle on her first mission. How, after sharing a body a few years with her, I finally cut the support to her body, causing her mind to slip from mine into the abyss of death. She wasn't evil, just misguided. I sometimes had fun with her at the bars. However, she was absorbing people left and right, claiming to want to make my life miserable. The last person she hurt was Kurt, and I flipped out. I ran to the med lab after I gained control and, with many protests from the voices including Kurt, that I would regret it, I pulled the plug keeping her body, and her mind, alive. I stayed in the med lab for almost a day; watching her body suffered brain failure and hearing her heart stop beating, after about 7 hours. Without her body as an anchor, she would eventually disappear from my head, never to bother me again. There was nothing McCoy could do; he and the other teachers broke in the wall too late.

At Carol's funeral I spoke, I actually spoke. I told everyone about what she liked, disliked, how I was warming up to her. Then I said she was a bitch, she was going to ruin my life, I was going to say more, but Chuck forced me into sleep. I didn't cry. In my room, looking at us, I cried harder, sobs racking my chest. I woke up the voices, they tried to comfort me, didn't work. I looked at Remy's picture, and I cried harder then before. A headache forming from the exertion of crying, my face turning red from the effort of trying to keep it in.

I was still crying when I felt myself walking through the hallways. It was 2:30 in the morning and no one was awake. I walked to the med lab, past mom's room to the room with Remy sleeping on the bed. In the past few weeks, we got to know each other, he was a nice guy, but I still felt guilty for practically ruining his life.

I walked up to his body, still crying. After a few minutes of just crying and staring, I picked up Remy's hand and brought it to my face, the rough hand feeling good on my face. Calming down, I rubbed the hand on my cheek, then one of my hands reached to his face and I made his lips form a smile. After that, I took his other hand and brought it to my other cheek, both hands feeling good. By now, all I was thinking was how lucky I was to have absorbed a nice and forgiving guy. I brought my face, cupped by his two hands held by my own hands, down to his face and kissed his lips. It felt good. Who knew kissing could bring such happiness to a person, especially one that couldn't touch? I lowered his arms around my waist, wrapping them around me protectively, and I climbed on him and fell asleep laying on top of him, a few tears falling on his hospital shirt, wetting it. It dried in a few minutes as my sadness left for a while.

I did not know until later that it was actually him controlling some of me, bringing me to him, using his body, even though he was out of it, to comfort me.


	5. Lithium

**Lithium**

**I'm so happy 'cause today **

**I've found my friends ... **

**They're in my head **

Rogue woke up from sleep, finding herself on top of the Cajun that she absorbed a few weeks ago. Unfazed, she looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was 7 am. She got off Remy, not noticing that she was even there, and walked out of the room towards the kitchen. She found her father and Uncle Chuck sitting there, reading the paper and already done with eating.

"Morning, guys." She was met with two smiles before they went back to reading. She got a skillet out from the cupboard, placed it on the stove, and went to the fridge and starting grabbing random food. After placing some bread in the toaster to toast, she went back to the skillet and put in two eggs, bits of shredded cheddar cheese, bacon, onion, and some spices. While that started cooking, she grabbed a bowl and filled it with Cookie Crisp and milk. She placed that on the table where she usually sat, followed by a cup of orange juice and another cup of apple juice. Taking the finished toast, she slathered one with butter and the other with peanut butter. She put two pieces of waffles in to toast, replacing the toast. She went back to the skillet and flipped the omelet, waited a few seconds, then placed the omelet on a plate, placing it next to the cereal bowl and toast on the table. She sat down and started eating.

By this time, Logan noticed all the food that his daughter was planning to eat, he also noticed the slight smile on her face, and both were out of character. He decided to say nothing, just watch to see what would happen. Xavier was too engrossed in the article about mutant rights to notice, yet.

When she was done the cereal, she turned around the waffles for them to toast again. Sitting down she started on the omelet, taking bites of toast in-between. Sounds of people taking showers could be heard. Summer birds were chirping away, and Rogue made no signs of slowing down with eating.

Five minutes later, after the omelet, the toast, the waffles, and the drinks, Rogue got up and took an orange and a peach from the fridge. Peeling the orange, she started humming a tune; it was oddly similar to the song Jubilee hummed every morning, something from her hometown. Xavier, finished with the article, noticed the humming. Logan, super sensitive to sound, couldn't mistake the tune. "Rogue, you OK? Why are you humming Jubilee's song? How come you ate so much?"

"I was just in the mood for all of the stuff. And I just have the song stuck in my head, is that a crime?"

Xavier voiced his opinion, "We are just worried. You just ate favorite foods from most of the student population, and now you have someone else's song in your head? I think all the people you absorbed are making themselves known."

"Well, Uncle Chuck, I don't think that. I think I am just extra hungry from yesterday. I didn't eat after all, and Jubilee's song? She sings it every day; I think it just finally stuck. Her thoughts are not helping, either. No need to worry, it will eventually go away. You afraid of me getting fat?" She started eating the orange, while setting the coffee machine to make coffee.

"No, Rogue, I'm afraid you might suffer from suggestions, unintentional mind you, from your psyches, and it might disrupt your life."

"No worries, Prof. I'm just peachy!" Rogue demonstrated that by showing off her peach and cup of steaming coffee, jovially walking out the kitchen by way of the garden doors.

"Logan, I think we need to keep a close watch over Rogue. I've been noticing mood changes more and more often. Today is the first I've seen of her exhibiting traits of her psyches, and I fear it might get worse."

"You think we should tell McCoy?"

"Let's watch for a bit first. She could be right it could be a temporary thing that will eventually go away, like most of her absorbed charges in the past."

"Hope you're right, Chuck."

Outside, Rogue was just sitting down to enjoy her peach and coffee. Of course, that is one of the strangest combos out there, but since her stomach was already in danger, what was one more thing? Not that she noticed, but the voices were quieter than they ever had been before when she had someone in her head. Normally, she would wonder what was up, but at the moment, she could care less.

In a playful mood, she made the coffee freeze, making a disgusting brown ice-cube. Annoyed with her stupidity, _what was he thinking?_ she warmed the coffee with her fire powers, careful not to break the cup with the fire. Feeling the two emotions come out, enjoying the show, she started to laugh, spitting out what she managed to drink of her coffee.

Finished her coffee and peach, she sat there. 'What should I do now?' For a moment her eyes turned black and red, and she stumbled towards the kitchen door. "Professor! There's something wrong with Rogue!" Stumbling, the eyes went back to green, and she fell to the ground. She split to about fourteen of her selves, her multiples walking in many different directions.

The shout by Gambit was not lost on Xavier or Wolverine, both running out to the door, to the only Rogue left on the ground, panting. "Kid, what's happening?" Asked a concerned Logan.

"Remy no kid." sneered Gambit, looking up at the men, "Remy knows that, after spending a few weeks in this head with thirteen other kids. They finally were able to break through, taking over Rogue, all at the same time. Remy tried to stop them, but he thinks Rogue's head is damaged."

"Does she know what's going on?" Asked a worried Xavier.

"Non, she's one of the multiples running out there. The psyches don't know they are in another body, not fully absorbed, can't comprehend. But Remy and Rogue were doing fine, controlling the body perfectly considering, but she then started slipping, after Mystique was hurt. Remy noticed her personality fusing with the other personalities, noticed her not fighting anymore."

The two men looked at each other. "I think we will need to have Hank look at Rogue. We first need to combine all of her, which will be hard to do."

"Should we wake the other kids?"  
"It might make things confusing, but we will need help. I suggest gathering the teachers and Kurt, perhaps Jamie too. He's going to have to help us with his mutation. I'll keep the other students asleep and I ask you to lock their doors, don't want… Rogue… to get in their rooms."

"Got it." Wolverine went into the mansion, leaving Xavier with Gambit.

"Will you be able to help us, Gambit?"

"Non, it took a lot of Remy's energy to try and subdue the others, and to gain control earlier."

"Come with me to med lab then, we'll coordinate from there."

**I'm so ugly, but that's okay, 'cause so are you ... **

With a hasty plan set up after a small, very small, meeting, the teachers plus Kurt and Jamie, were sent out to round up the Rogues. Xavier and Gambit were left in the med lab, Gambit resting and Xavier the nexus that combined everyone through the house.

Kurt was the first to find a Rogue, in the DR. "Rogue! What are you doing?"

"Is that my name? I have no memory… I just found myself in here; I think I like this place. I wanna play! Computer…"

"No! Rogue, come with me, we need to help you."

"No! You want to hurt me, you never cared for me!" With that, she threw cherry bombs towards the blue demon. Kurt teleported out of the way, "Uncle Chuck!"

"Yes, Nightcrawler, I know, I will inform the others. X-men, the Rogues do not know who they are, but they still have their personalities and know how to use their powers. Be careful."

"Roger that." replied Betsy Braddock. She currently was outside by the pool, facing a Rogue. "Why don't you come with me?"

"Will I get a kiss?"

"No."

"Then, no, you're going to have to force me to."

"Bobby? Why are you so cold? You are not as jovial as I remember." _Perhaps the personalities are fused with Rogue as well as their own… damn; this is not going to be easy._

"Oh, I'm jovial, when I get what I want. A kiss?"

_Grrrrrrr. _"OK, a small one."

"Yes!" _My charms are finally working! _

_Kissing another girl, Warren is never going to let this down. _The two got closer; close enough for Betsy to get disgusted. Following her plan, as soon as Bobby/Rogue was closing their eyes for a kiss, she raised her purple psychic blade and plunged it into the head. Bobby/Rogue was unconscious. Betsy took him/her to the med lab. When she got there, Nightcrawler was already there with an angry Rogue, who had learned she couldn't fight the agile demon, and gave up after a few minutes of DR fighting.

"Two down, how many to go?" questioned Kurt to Xavier.

"About 12 more, I did not get an exact count when she separated. I suggest you two go, to help the others, round up some more. I will watch these two."

Nodding, Kurt and Betsy left.

Warren was flying in the rec. room, as Ray/Rogue sent lightening in his direction. He flew deftly in the air, dodging most of the lightning, trying to get close. He was at once surprised when Ray stopped attacking, instead hiding behind a couch. He charged towards the teen, ready to grab him, when Ray/Rogue stood up spread her arms, creating a circular lightning force field around her, which Angel collided with, getting electrocuted. _Damn, I didn't know he could do that! New tactic… Wait is that Betsy? _Indeed it was, the purple haired mutant walked up to Ray/Rogue, who was not looking in her direction, and she stabbed him with her psychic blade, rendering him unconscious. "Three down. You OK Angel?"

"Yeah, thanks Psylocke."

Storm was outside, flying and dodging the kicks Kurt/Rogue would send her way. She thought flying would leave him to the ground, but apparently he could teleport in the air lots of feet from the ground, and keep it up as well. She would send a bolt towards him, he would disappear, kick her head, disappear again, kick her somewhere else, again and again.

She sometimes blocked him, sometimes didn't, and sometimes she got to hit him, but not long enough or powerfully enough. "Why are you not tired? Should not teleporting more then 20 times in a minute wear you out?"

"No." _Poof_, "I" _Poof_ "am" _poof_ "not" _poof_ "weak!"

Getting an idea, she flew faster to avoid his kicks and placed a fog around her. Kurt/Rogue, unable to see, was teleporting blindly. S/he stopped teleporting, falling to the ground. Storm, anticipating that, picked up the winds to slow his dissent, after which she hit him/her with a bolt to knock him/her unconscious.

Rahne/Rogue was growling, almost as loudly and as fiercely as Wolverine was. She ran towards Logan, who grabbed her in a bear hug. She panicked, she scratched, clawed, bit, unable to get out of his strong embrace. Out of breath, she fell asleep, turning into a two-toned girl.

_Great, what a wonderful way to see if I can heal my way out of being a were-wolf._ mused Wolverine.

"Xavier, how many Rogues are captured to date?"

"There are 8 so far, Hank. I believe the psyches still out there are Kitty, Jamie, Ororo, Wolverine, and the real Rogue."

"They are the best at not being captured!"

"I know. I would recommend saving Wolverine till last so we can regroup and take him as a team."  
"Good idea. I think I found the real Rogue, under her favorite tree, I'll get her." He walked up to Rogue. "Hey, Rogue."

"Hi."

"What are you thinking about?"

"Things I like, things I dislike. There are so many things, and I'm disagreeing with myself. Who are you?"

"A friend."

"I have no reason to believe you."

"No, but you have my word."

"What good is your word? Leave me alone."

"How can I gain your trust?"

"Tell me what my favorite song is."

"I don't you that well."

"I know. I was waiting for you to bullshit me. I can trust you, what do you want to do? I'm bored."

"How about I show you what I do, introduce myself to you?" With a nod from her head, they walked to the mansion, towards the lab. Arriving there, Xavier put her to sleep.

"Having telepaths around is totally awesome."

"Thank you Jaime. Having complementary boys around is very nice."

Jaime blushed after Betsy spoke to him. Warren gave a mock glare to him, everyone knew he was Betsy's love, but they still teased about the obvious flirting they did with everyone. Since /Kitty/Ororo/Jamie/Rouge were asleep, courtesy of an over-worked Psylocke, the group prepared to attack the Wolverine/Rogue.

"I just wish Wolverine didn't have such protective metal around his bloody brain." Commented Betsy.

"I think we all do. I am not looking forward to this fight."

"Afraid of ruffling your wings?"

"Ha ha. Thank you very much, Hank. I almost feel better about going against the world's most dangerous mutant."

"Why don't you all let me fight him, he is me after all."

"Because, you'll hurt her…him…whatever. We need all of them to bring Rogue back together again."

"Whatever you say, Purple."

"_Any_way, Xavier said we would find him/her in the middle of the forest surrounding the mansion. That's usually where you go to meditate, right Wolverine?"

"Yeah."

Coming upon the center of the forest, they found Logan/Rogue sitting on the ground, apparently oblivious to anything around her. The group walked up close to her, but not close enough to blast her with any of their powers. "Who are y'all? What do y'all want?" Rogue asked, in a loud voice so all could hear her from 20 feet away.

"Rogue, we want to take you to the lab, fix you up. You have not felt yourself lately." responded Warren, hoping she would go with them, quietly without a fight.

"NO! No more hospitals! No more scientists! You gonna have to force me!" growled Rogue, getting up and into a fighting position, her claws unleashed.

"We don't want to hurt you, child." reasoned Ororo, as she and Warren took to the air.

"Well, I want to hurt you! Y'all ain't nothing but annoying fucking gov'ment types, ready to throw me into the trash, after y'all use me!"

"Rogue!" screamed the real Wolverine, "Listen to yourself! It's not like that, do we look that bad to you?"

"Don't matter, looks can be deceiving."  
Logan sighed. "OK, group, she isn't coming easy. Don't be afraid to hurt her, she has my healing factor, remember? The task is to knock her out, nothing else. This is just like the Omega program in the danger room, so just remember what you were taught. I suggest Jamie and Kurt stay out of it for now." The group, minus the two young boys, surrounded Rogue/Wolverine, ready to strike.

Storm sent a lightning bolt towards Rogue, and she dodged it, rolling towards the space between Psylocke and Beast. Getting up from a squat, she prepared to attack one of the two, but was stopped by one of Psylocke's psychic blades, clashing with her claws. Just as the two weapons clanged, Beast was behind Rogue/Wolverine, grabbing her around her arms. Beast was strong, but not as strong as Wolverine, who broke free of the hold.

Rogue/Wolverine was back in the center of the circle, again waiting for the next move. "Is that the best you can do?" S/he snarled.

Instead of answering, Psylocke moved first this time, engaging Rogue in a hand-to-hand combat. Angel, somewhat proficient in combat after some lessons with Betsy, landed on the ground and helped her. Rogue was not daunted, the instincts of Wolverine and somehow the knowledge of 50 years worth of fighting would have helped her fight hand-to-hand with at least four people, five if she was at the top of her game. But this is not a normal battle, not when there are mutants around,

While those three were doing a dance of fighting techniques, Storm was getting ready to strike with a bolt, if the time presented itself, and Beast climbed a tree, out of the way of any flying kicks or punches.

_This would be a wonderful time for Tiger to be here. _thought Angel. These thoughts, which were not on the fight, caused him to be punched in the chest, he flew into a tree, groaning with pain. Psylocke had sustained a couple of punches, but was still in the fight. It was extremely difficult for her to land a punch on Rogue, but she hoped it would be a good amount of distraction for the other members of the group to make a move.

Storm, having nothing against Angel, was grateful for him getting hit. There was more of a chance to get an opening on Rogue now. She aimed another bolt towards her. She naturally dodged it, plus another kick from Psylocke. But couldn't dodge Beast falling from a tree.

Beast pinned the girl under him, her face to the ground and struggling to be free. Rogue/Wolverine was almost free from the 200+ lb. Beast on his back, but was stopped when a purple psychic blade sunk into the head, causing him to fall asleep, unwillingly.

The group let out a collective sigh glad the task was over.

**We broke our mirrors**

**Sunday morning is everyday for all I care ... **

**And I'm not scared**

**Light my candles, in a daze**

**'Cause I've found god **

**Yeah, yeah, yeah (x6)**

The kitchen was filled with many students, who finally woke up, rather late. They were stunned that everyone woke up at 12:13 exactly. Warren and Betsy, who were assured by the professor that they were not needed in the med lab at the point, were answering their questions.

"Like, Mr. Worthington, why did she split?"

"We do not know why, Kitty. Doc McCoy is going to do a cat scan on Rogue as soon as she is all together again. Jamie is helping with that."

Scott spoke next, "Why didn't the professor want our help?"

"There were thirteen Rogues running around, we didn't want the confusion. Why are you so worried about it, we did alright."

"Betsy, as leader of the students, I feel I should have been told. Plus, have you seen Warren fight recently? He's not exactly in top fighting shape. And you had Kurt and Jamie help? They're not exactly acing the DR sessions."

"Scott, if that happened, Jean would complain that she should have known because all telepaths know everything about the going ons of the place. Kitty would complain as she is Rogue's best friend, Sam would say southerners stick together, Amara would say she was royalty, and everyone else would say "its not _fair_!" And since we were fighting, basically, ourselves, it wasn't like we needed your sodding help. So, shut your bloody mouth, boy, before I shut it for you." As everyone was a bit scared of Betsy right now (except maybe Warren), all the students fell silent.

It was back in the professor's study; Xavier, McCoy, Logan and Kurt were sitting around the desk. Jamie had returned to join the rest of the students, and Rogue was together again and resting in the lab after the cat scans, Ororo watching over her.

"So, Hank, what's wrong with my girl?"

"Well, Logan, the scans are not promising. Apparently, she absorbed too many people, and the overload of information is over-loading her brain. Here is a picture of a normal brain, the green light indicating how much of the brain a normal person uses. As you can see, less then half is used. Here is another picture; it is of Xavier's head that he graciously aloud me to take a few years ago. As you can see, even though he has a more powerful brain then most humans, he still doesn't use most of his brain, only a little more then half. Here is a third picture, I'm sure you can see how much of a strain this would have on a human."

"She's using all of her brain?"

"Yes, and from what I can tell, there isn't enough brain to hold all that she has. The cat scans also showed me this," Hank held up a fourth picture, "bruising on the brain. Normally, that would mean concussions. However, since the bruises were psychological damage, not physical damage, the symptoms are different."

"Vat does mein sweister have, vat is wrong vith her?"

"She is… losing her mind."

It was quiet for a few seconds as the information sank in. Professor was the first to recover, "When the psyches leave, will her brain get better?"

"I'm not sure of that, Charles, it is too early to tell. Some bruises, when they go away, leave no permanent damage, some do. If it were on the body, I would be able to tell, but with the brain it is not as easy. However, I can tell that it will be easier for the personalities in her head to take over, even the weakest ones. And since they are not full personalities, they would be hard to talk to. They wouldn't know who they are and would be dangerous because of that, as we saw this morning. "

Logan, even though he was not medically savvy, he did manage to follow, and did have a valid question, "What about Carol and the other person, Remy was his name?"

"I do not know for sure. But in my educated guess, neither would pose too much trouble since they were fully absorbed and they do not have any control over the brain. Earlier, we saw Remy and he was fine, not crazy. Even though he was fully absorbed, he, and Carol and the others, will never go crazy in Rogue's body as they have no control of the brain."

"Are you sure of that? Carol once complained to me that she felt like her head was throbbing."

"She may have felt the muscle, but she didn't suffer delusions from it. I don't know how to describe it… Just say she and Remy won't go insane, in my opinion. We just will have to wait and see."

Ororo, as said earlier, was sitting in the lab. She was getting tired of sitting, so she decided to walk around. She walked towards the room that held Raven, looking in and almost doing a double take. The blue woman was still lying on her bed, but was rubbing her head, a grimace on her face. She ran to the nearest phone and phoned the professor's room. "Yes, Ororo?" came the calm voice of the professor.

"Xavier, Raven is awake."

"Hank will be down there soon, along with Logan. I'm going to talk to the students."


	6. About A Girl

**I'm standing in your line**

**I do ... hope you have the time**

**I do ... pick a number too**

**I do ... keep a date with you**

Professor Charles Xavier was sitting in his study, writing his latest book that would not be printed until the mutant/human relations were better. He might be dead when that time came, but that did not stop him from writing. As he was writing, he could not fathom his calmness surrounding the situations of the mansion. A few days ago, Rouge had absorbed a new person, absorbed almost everyone at the mansion, killed Carol, seriously wounded her mother (in name only, he knew she adamantly reminded herself), and _then_ she was discovered to have a deteriorating brain.

James and Kurt Howlett were still grieving; the air was thick with it, Jean was suffering from her now advancing mutation, Scott was getting into fights with everyone, especially Warren, Betsy was suffering from her family's idiocy (as she called it), Ororo was having awful nightmares, and the list went on. Most of the younger recruits tried to lighten the mood, but were always shot down by one of the older members. He smiled; he wished that their efforts would work just once. He then frowned; some of them who still had parents who cared were forced to go home, leaving the ones without a loving family; Bobby, Ray Crisp, Tabby and Jubilee. He still kept in touch with the ones that left, but it was hard with the mad parents, he hadn't heard from Jamie Maddox since he left.

Mad parents... sometimes he understood completely what his friend, Magneto, was complaining about. And he thought that if circumstances were different, he might have joined with Eric Magnus Lensherr in his quest for mutant domination.

Speak of the devil; Raven woke from her coma yesterday (_what a wonderful day, yesterday_, thought Xavier, sarcastically) and she had news on what Magneto was now planning. It seemed that he was slowed down rather considerable from the loss of Carol and Raven all those years ago as they were both needed. Now, after carefully editing his plans and testing things out, he now had a new plan. Raven did not have the specifics, but apparently Magneto was going to attack the mansion from within. She couldn't find out more as Magneto moved back to the states in a more secure place, at which point she came to the mansion.

And with all these new events, he was calmly writing about his views and experiences of mutants, the good and bad. Yes, he knew, mutants were capable of being criminals. Take Carol Danvers for example, she was fully committed to Magnus' plan, even where Mystique was not. He shuddered to think how powerful Magnus' side would be if Carol was not taken out by Rogue.

Speaking of which, she knocked the door and entered. Upon closer examination, it was Remy in control. "What can I do for you, Remy?"

"Remy need to leave for a while. With the impending doom, he need to talk to the... family... get things settled before he decides to camp here."

"I recognize your need to leave, but it would not be wise. However, nothing will keep you from going, I'm sure, and I'm quite honored you would consult me before going. I would like to remind you that I have a great responsibility to Rogue though..."

"Remy knows, prof. that's why he talking to you. he will take care of her, great care. Gonna come back as soon as the... business is done."

"I would still like to recommend that you take someone with you."

"No. They would get hurt. Remy realize you know nothing of his past. But Rogue does, and you saw how she trusted Remy. So please trust Remy when he says that anyone who comes with him might get hurt."

"And you? What if you start to deteriorate, start losing your mind? I'm sorry, I trust you, but I don't trust human doctors should you be entrusted in their care. And the X-Men are not as weak as you seem to think. I ask you to trust us, as I trust you. And you must realize that if you don't take someone willingly, I will send someone without your knowledge."

That earned him a smirk from the person sitting in front of him. "Remy see you already learned from him, and he only here for a few weeks! OK, mon ami, Remy'll take a chaperone. Who you got in mind?"

"I would normally suggest Kurt, but seeing that he is still hurt, I don't know who. Jean, maybe, but she's having problems." He listed almost all of the x-men, including the new recruits and the adults, but discarding them each as there was a problem with each. "As you can see, this is a difficult choice. Not to mention that Magneto is planning something and I might need everyone here. But, we can spare you and someone so that you can your life straight, I would hope you would come back as soon as you can?"

"Remy'll try. But he makes no promise."

Xavier sighed, knowing he would have to except that. He went back to thinking. "Perhaps it would be best if an adult were to go with you. Even though it is now summer, it's not that far to school. I'll ask the adults for a volunteer, although I would stress that I wouldn't want Logan or Raven to go, it might get too… violent and stressful being around you."

"Good idea, mon ami." The idea of being around Rogue's parents was too painful, and funny, for the Cajun to think of.

"Can I ask what your… business… is?"

"Remy's father is head of my family business, antique dealing, and Remy and his older brother are up for running the business in a few years. Remy was originally going to gain leadership because… of certain circumstances. Now, Remy don't think that'll be possible anymore. Remy's just going to talk to his family about this."

"Are they going to be accepting of this?"

"Remy's family knew he was a mutant before he was even one, and they loved him anyway. Remy don't see why not."

"Ok. I of course have to accept that answer, though I have my doubts. I wish you would trust me."

Kurt was sitting outside, at the place where he had last talked to his mother. What made it more emotional was the fact that she was sitting there as well. Raven had woken up yesterday, late in the afternoon. She spent a lot of time talking to the adults, and now she was supposed to be resting. After all, she did just wake up from a coma, from when Rogue, actually Carol, went berserk on Raven.

Kurt just couldn't get his head around the fact that his sister was going to go insane; she was always the stone upon which their family's foundation had been on. It was not the angry father, or the terrorist mother, or the jovial son, it was the moody daughter that always kept the family sane, together and helped strengthen the love. He once jokingly asked why and how she was so strong, so wise, and he got a serious response, "Mississippi was mean to me and dad, but I met Father Bones there, and he was the nicest man ever. He was also the smartest, too."

Kurt didn't know how much stock he was supposed to put into that answer, but he considered that maybe the religious have ways of making people hear what they want, as well as what they want the listener to hear, but thoughts on that later. What he really wanted to know was what would happen to his family now that she might not be the rock anymore. "Vhy are you back, mutter?"

"Originally, it was to warn Xavier about Magneto's new plans. Now, I'm back because of how Rogue was hurt."

"Are you going to stay?"

"I don't know. This family is falling apart; it might be good to stay for a bit. But, I betrayed the X-Men, James… my kids. Wouldn't people resent me? I don't think I would be welcome here."

"Sure you vould, mutter, they accepted you and vater before, vhy not now?"

"Thanks, Kurt, but I don't know. Maybe we should get through one crisis at a time, and when I feel the urge to leave, I'll leave. That'll spare me making future plans that may not happen."

"OK. Vat is bucket head planning?"

"Like the nickname. I told Xavier what he needs to know, I rather not talk about it anymore. All my life, anymore, seems to revolve around him, and Xavier, and their little war they are so bent on winning. I never wanted to be this. When I escaped Weapon-X, I swore I wouldn't become a pawn in anyone else's agendas. All I seem to do is their dirty work, and hear a promise of better things, but nothing good ever comes."

" You don't truly believe that, do you mutter? You came here to warn us, it means something good to me."

Raven did not respond.

Most of the students were in the Danger Room, preparing for a rigorous training session. Logan was in charge for the day.

"All right, kids. Today, we are going to have an Omega day. Since this is the first time some of the new recruits are here, I'll explain what this is. One of the adults will be the main mutant, and is able to use all of his/her powers without holding back. The student, all of you, will have to work together to bring down the mutant, with less power then usual. Thanks to new technology, your powers will be lessened. Ok, today's Omega mutant is Angel."

"What!" shouted Cyclops, "He's not even that great!"

"Shut up, one-eye. Also, in this exercise, not only do your powers weaken, his powers grow stronger. We tried this before, and we find that he gains healing, knives to throw from his wings and extra strength in his attacks. So quit your whining. I heard from Jamie that the Rogue with your personality wasn't that great a fighter." Laughter filled the danger room as Cyclops went silent with embarrassment, red cheeks to match his ruby visor. It was even more degrading to him as Jean, whom he secretly liked, was laughing the hardest, besting Bobby in that department.

Berserker, after the laughter quieted down, asked a question, "Logan, how come we can't use this technology outside to battle our enemies with extra strength?"

"Because the extra power isn't real, it's just a projection of powers. From what Hank tells me, it's like a virtual video game and you are the character with the special abilities. If we were to do this in the real world, it would just look silly. Ok, enough talking. I want Spyke to be the leader, as he has experience with the Morlocks, and when Angel gets here, we'll start the exercise."

Xavier, done talking to Remy/Rogue, and Ororo watched the whole exercise in the watch room above the danger room. "Do you think they will be ready to take on whatever team Magneto has assembled, Charles?"

"I hope so. Since we have the element of surprise on our side, I think we might have a really good chance."

"Why do you think Raven decided to betray Eric to tell us his plans? I don't believe it is because she had a change of heart, and I don't think we can trust her."

"When she was telling me his plans, she also told me that he was a madman suffering from delusions. She once thought that we were the same, Eric and I, having different plans for the world. However, she realized that where I know having peace might be far fetched, Eric believes his dream is possible."

"I don't understand."

"There can never be complete peace, and there can never be complete totalitarianism. There will always be dissidents, in both situations. Would you rather have a leader who knows his dream might never happen, but still fights for it, knowing his limits? Or would you want a leader bent crazy on his dream because, to him, he will do whatever necessary to make it happen? Raven felt betrayed when he sent Carol to attack us, and she killed some of out students, and Eric did not care. That's why she told us, and is trustworthy."

**"**She doesn't want her children to be hurt, that's what it is."

"Yes. I also promised that I would not have Kurt or Rogue part of this battle. And I intend to keep that promise to her."

"What is Magneto planning, anyway?"

"I will tell you in good time, when I tell everyone else."

**I need an easy friend**

**I do ... with an ear to lend**

**I do ... think you fit this shoe**

**I do ... won't you have a clue**

In Rogue's head, Remy and Rogue were walking through the forest. Although Rogue acted crazy outside in the 'real' world, she acted sane in her mind. There was a catch of course, the fact that she didn't think she was in her mind at all; she thought she was part of Remy's mind. She would constantly talk to him while he was walking around, and she would talk to the other personalities in her head. It seemed she had no clue that she could control the body, which was good; she would no longer make it hard for Remy and the others to take care of her. "So chere, Remy be going on a trip."

"Yeah? Where are we going?"

"We're going to Remy's home. Mr. McCoy is coming with us as well."

"Why is he coming?"

"Well, in case we need help. Betsy could have come too, but since the good doctor rarely gets to go out, he volunteered to help us. And since he can help with our problem as well as Betsy could, it was OK with the professor."

""What problem are you talking about?"

"You don't know? You don't remember absorbing almost everyone in the mansion? You don't remember Carol, Remy, anything about your mutation?"

"No. Who are they? What mutation do I have?"

"This is too confusing, why Remy? Ok, here's how it is..."

It was a week later, and Remy was sitting in one of the mansion's cars preparing to drive away. In the passenger seat was Hank McCoy. Hank had an image inducer on, the first time he had one, so that he wouldn't draw attention to him and Rogue/Remy.Remy thought about the past week leading up to his departure. As much as he wanted to leave by himself, he knew that would not be wise, for many reasons. He remembered shopping for clothes that both he and Rogue wouldn't mind wearing, it was not an easy task and it involved two days worth of shopping at multiple stores. A boy and a girl sharing a body is not an easy thing.

The time was also spent saying good-bye to the people of the mansion. He did not know most of the people and Rogue was not in her right mind, so they were awkward at best. The worst was saying good-bye to the Howlett family; he never heard so many threats in his life, not even from the assassins! With Logan, it was slow and painful. With Raven, it was a ruined life from blackmail, then a slow, torturous death. With Kurt, it was a one-way trip to the sun's anvil, death insured. He pointed out that they would be killing Rogue as well, but they were confident they could separate the minds of the two before such atrocities were to befall him. It amazed him how they could think they would be able to hurt him without hurting Rogue!

Speaking of which, it took a long while to get her to understand the situation they were in, but she eventually got it, though her memories were selective at best.

"All set to go, Gambit?"

"Remy told you, mon ami, call Remy, Remy."

"Ah, yes, sorry. Well, Remy, ready to go?"

"Yes, before the heathen family decides to skewer Remy's beautiful face."

"You mean, Rogue's beautiful face?"

"That too."

And they left, ready for the 4-day journey to New Orleans.

Sometime during their trip…

"Might I ask what you plan to do once we get to New Orleans?"

"You can ask."

"Will I get an answer?"

"Non, Remy don think so."

"Why not? Do you not trust us, or me for that matter? I can already tell you have a shady past, I must tell you that I will not be judging you. "To err human. To forgive, divine." Also, how do you plan on doing your "business" without me following you around? And might I add…"

"Hank! Stop yakking! You got Remy with that quote of yours. If Remy tells you everything, you sure you might not freak out?"

"Yes. There are many walks of life out there; I can hardly fault you for something you were raised to do, or to do something you enjoy. Look at Ororo…"

"Thanks, mon ami. Man, you talk a lot. Remy already knows about Ororo, and Logan, and Raven, and some others. Remy is sharing Rogue's mind after all."

"Ah, yes. That is such a fascinating occurrence. Given the chance, I would have loved to check out the brain more extensively. But no, that would not be wise. So, my young friend, how about your story? I'm all ears, since there is nothing else to do on this infernally long trip."

"Well, Ok. But don't interrupt. If you have questions, wait till the end, Ok?" After a nod from the good doctor, Remy continued, "Remy was born to a god-fearing family that rejected him for his eyes…and since Henry was already married, they chose me to be part of the arrangement and to head the family…then Remy went to France to pay his respects to Genevieve…. And he ended up in New York after the plane flight home… And you know the rest. What I plan to do in New Orleans is talk to my family and to the Assassins to try and work a new deal."

A good 10 minutes passed while Hank processed all the information. _Hank thinks Remy is a no good son-of-a-bitch. Remy shouldn't have told him! What should he do now? Remy was really starting to like the X-men, too. And this woman! Wow! What a better body to inhabit!..._

Remy's musings were cut short as a question was asked by Hank, "Do you love Belladonna? Did you love Genevieve? Do you hate Rogue, and the X-men, for stopping your life? From what you said, as much as you didn't like hurting people, you did love the life you were leading."

Remy was shocked, here he was afraid the man was going to judge him, accuse him, and _he_ was sorry? _There is hope for me after all… _"Remy did love Jenny, but he was young and impulsive at the time, he was engaged to another woman, he was…scared. It is the only thing…I… regret. To turn back time would be a godsend. Remy's trying to like Bella, she is nice and beautiful, but it is hard, she is not my type. Remy told you about my adventures with women, but it was always with the understanding of a one-night stand. And how could Remy hate you guys? Y'all the only honestly good people Remy had ever met. And, truthfully, Remy think it's the answer to his prayers, getting out of a wedding."

"That's part of your plan? Get out of the wedding?"

"Oui."

"You do not think you will ever be in your body again?"

"Oh, no. Remy's has hopes. He hopes it doesn't happen till after Bella is happily married to another person." Soft chuckles were heard coming from Hank as they continued their drive, sharing stories of the good doctor now that Remy was done talking.

Ok, not a lot of Romyness, but I don't think this story is gonna turn out that way. I think I'm really looking at the different lives they will have to lead since they are in the same body; love is not the only thing out there in the world. Plus, I gotta work on the whole evil Magneto plot. But, heck, it was originally intended as a romy story, and I really like romy stories, so I must look for a way to add it in… also, so sorry for the long update, summer really has me busy (in a good way  )


	7. BreedPart 1

**I don't care I don't care I don't care I don't care I don't care… **

**Care if I'm old. **

In today's world, people don't know the meaning of the word "promise". Rogue's best friend Cody promised to always be her friend, even if they broke up. Liar, even if his mother was manipulating him unfairly. Father Bones promised god would always be with her, where the fuck was he? With everyone at the same time, hoping for everyone's redemption, so he didn't interfere. But that idea was foreign to Rogue. Her mother promised to always love her and her brother. False. She could feel it in her bones, which were reacting to the feelings of another person in the same body. Her father promised to always protect her. Asshole. What reason did he have for not being able to save her from Carol? Every reason, unfortunately, she just wasn't seeing it. Kurt promised to be by her side, no matter what. Creep. Where was he when she needed him at the bar to save her from Carol's antics? Being a good under aged teenager and sleeping for school the next day. But don't tell her any of that, she'll bite your head off.

Rogue's anger was one of the things that kept her sane longer then the professor and the good doctor had hoped for, when she was in her mind, that is. Remy and Hank had trouble keeping her in her mind, when she deeply wanted to escape her "prison" and wreck havoc. When she did, she was completely different then when she was in her mind. She would act like a jumble of people from the mansion. They were just thankful she didn't have their powers anymore. Remy was also thankful that she didn't try to force him to hurt the body they both inhabited; it would do an injustice to the world to have his stunning personality erased from existence, or her hot body for that matter.

Unfortunately, the trip to the south was torture for Remy. The talkative doctor and the angry teenager together were not a good mix. What made it worse was the fact that Hank checked up on their health constantly and concluded that Remy was going to suffer the same effects as Rogue, only later in life. It seemed as the pressure of the brain to hold of the information was spreading. As it was, the original plan to settle family problems was now changed to saying good-bye to the family. After that, back to the mansion as an insane patient, for no asylum would admit a mutant with a strange, never before seen case.

Currently, Remy was in charge of the body and sitting at a local, neutral to all guilds of New Orleans, bar, called Murphy's, at home. It was neutral as it was owned by an Irishman, not Cajun or French persons, as they made the vast majority of the many quarrelling guilds.

Remy was waiting until he recognized a fellow thief so as to contact his family. Hank was sleeping at the hotel they rented for the night. Remy had assured Hank he would be fine, too bad he didn't have fortuneteller powers.

Wearing such clothes that were comfortable to both parties involved and wearing sunglasses, Remy was a sight to behold at the bar. Most especially since the other women patrons were wearing skimpy clothes, the norm at the bar. The dimmed lights did not help either. Remy unfortunately attracted not only the stares of men thinking kinky thoughts of a girl covering up, but also the attention of women feeling quite mean. Paying attention to the men in the bar, Remy did not notice until it was too late that a tall, sexy blond was behind him.

"Excuse me, girl, but I think the trash is out back, I think you would feel more at home there."

Turning around, Remy could do nothing but stare.

"You have hearing problems as well as seeing problems girl? I said you should leave. Your kind ain't welcome in this here establishment."

At this time, a group of fellow women joined the blond, and many of the patrons were watching to see what happened. Remy also found his tongue.

"Why, Bella, had no idea you liked to wear jeans, thought they were beneath you." He commented on the blonde's choice of tight, form fitting dark blue jeans.

Had Remy been in his own body, Bella would have been up for an angry retort, but he was not. Bella was absolutely confused. "How do you know who I am?" Being who she is, she turned her ignorance to aggression, "Are you here for retribution? Did I kill someone close to you? Oh, poor girl, want to throw a punch? Go ahead, give it your best shot, you have no chance. I guarantee, you mess with me, you won't leave New Orleans alive."

"No, Bella, it's…" realizing how stupid the sentence would be if he were to finish it, he changed his game plan, "Remy didn't tell you about me? I have…"

Whatever he planned to say was cut short as Belladonna grabbed Remy/Rogue's arm with such force he was unable to get out of and shoved him towards the back of the bar.

Reaching the alley behind the bar, Bella, surrounded by fellow assassins, shoved Remy against the wall. Knowing it to be unwise to start fighting, Remy stayed in place.

"Where is the good-for-nothing fiancée of mine, girl? If you cooperate, I might let you live, or did Remy fail to mention what I did?"

"He was unable to, as he died."

This got Bella calm, almost smiling. Knowing it to be too good to be true, she asked for the story about what happened.

"Well, you know about Gen, and how he went to France to pay his respects to her before he was married to you. Unfortunately, the monster he thought was dead was still alive, and was going to go after him. I lived in the area, and also lost loved ones to the monster named Sabertooth, so I offered to help Remy hide from the monster, then to eventually kill the atrocity. He accepted my help, and we eventually became friends as well as allies. Don't worry, Bella, I'm married, even at this age, and very much in love with my husband. Anyway, needless to say, our plans did not work and Remy was hurt, badly. He eventually died. Before he did, he told me about his family and you, and gave me some pictures. And told me to say good-bye for him. After I finished Sabertooth."

A completely bullshit story, but Bella was too happy to look for any holes. "And Remy didn't tell you about his job, or about mine?"

"No, he didn't." Remy prayed that Rogue's "sincere" face would convince Bella.

"I don't believe you." Turning towards her posse, "Kill her. No friend of a thief, alive or dead, should be allowed to live." And with that, she walked back into the bar, leaving her associates to kill Remy/Rogue.

**I don't mind I don't mind I don't mind I don't mind… **

**Mind, don't have a mind. **

In the cold part of Rogue's mind, Remy and Rogue were sitting back to back. It was one of those calm times when Rogue was still Rogue, it usually happened when the body received physical injury.

"Well, chere, Remy gave it his best."

"What do you mean?"

"This life we would have shared should be ending soon."

"The forest isn't fading, I doubt we'll be dead anytime soon."

"Chere, there was no hope for the situation. Remy fought, he even managed to seriously wound one of the assassins, but they got him in the end. Remy bet Bella came back out just to savor the moment of killing Remy herself." This was followed by silence, except for the chatter of Kitty, Jubilee and Bobby near by, in the sunny spot of the forest.

"Remy, you're supposed to be the optimistic one! Ya know what I think? I think maybe we were saved."

"Optimism is great, chere, don't ever loose it. Good to see you still have some even after months of trying to make you happy again. Nice to know Remy'll have died with you optimistic again."

"You ain't afraid of dying?"

"Non. There are worse things, and I have atoned for them."

There would have been more conversation, except for the fact that the body was waking up. Rogue sadly watched as Remy rose to take control of the body. _I wish I had killed Carol sooner. Then maybe neither of us would be in this situation, waiting to bite the bullet Bella has for us…. _

**Get away get away get away get away… **

**Away, away from your home.**

When Remy woke up, he was surprised, considering what happened at the bar, to see that he was in the guest room of the LeBeau mansion. And if he was here, instead of the Assassin headquarters, why was his, well, Rogue's, hands tied to the bad post? Especially since he was not in any position to do much damage, considering the hurt done to him in the fight with the assassins.

Upon further investigation, he was doubly surprised to find that Hank McCoy was also tied up in the room, asleep on the wooden chair across the room. He tried to wake the doctor up, but he received no response.

He tried to loosen the knots tying him to the bed, but after about five minutes of fruitless attempts, he deduced that his cousin, Emil, the best at it, did the knot. Not giving up, he tried using his powers, and was successful. Ignoring the burning marks on the wrists, and countless other pains, he crept towards Hank to release him. However, he did not get halfway across the room before the door to the room opened, and in came five people he was very happy to see. Unfortunately, two guns were aimed at him and someone had a fighting pole, ready to fight.

"Girl, how were able to use Remy's powers just then? How do you have his eyes?" Not the words Remy would have liked to hear, but the tone of the speaker suggested he was open to explanation.

Cursing the fact that they always had a camera in the "guest" rooms, Remy decided to try the "honest" way, instead of bull shitting. "Well, Henry, that's because it's Remy in this here body, trapped with this girl in the same body."

Blank stares. Crickets. Two minutes. Then out of nowhere…

"Don't believe him Henry! I've read about mutants. Some of them are able to steal powers and life from other mutants. This must be an unsatisfied customer of his, and thus she stole his powers."

Remy was indignant that he could ever un-satisfy a woman, and said so. Henry, the intelligent one in situations such as these, chuckled at the remark, especially since the remark came out of a young woman's mouth, but was not sold to the idea yet. "How can you prove that you are Remy? What if you stole his memories as well? I don't want to make the mistake of trusting such an accomplished mutant."

Remy caught the cue. "Well, that would suck seeing as you did that once, me. Remember the Bordeaux heist we performed when we were 13? You trusted Remy's empathy would swing the guards to help rather then hinder, but it backfired, and you ended up helping them? No one would know that happened, not even this girl, seeing as Emma made that memory non-existent and undetectable to anyone but us."

"Damn, Remy, the one woman's body you had to inherit, and it had to be a hot one." Henry motioned for the guards to lower their weapons. "This doesn't mean I completely trust you… There still is that girl we have to worry about."

"I would be disappointed in you mon frere if you did trust me so quickly."

Before anyone else could get a word out, the good doctor tied to the chair moaned in pain, then cursed the splitting headache he had, something Remy never heard him do. Henry motioned for everyone to leave the room, and he headed in that direction too, but not before saying, "Hang tight, Remy. Don't do anything stupid, and I'll be back shortly with our pere."

Remy headed, again, towards Hank to release him. And, again, he did not make it to the other side of the room. Rogue did.

"Mr. McCoy! So great to see you! Why are you tied up? You have to help me! I got, like, millions of cuts and bruises that you _have_ to heal. Not to mention this swollen ankle? This will NOT fit in the pair of boots I have planned to wear on my date with Roberto." Completely unaware of…. her…. situation, Rogue talked about having a date with three different guys. Hank, too much in pain to argue, just let her talk. He was guiltily happy when some men came and took him from the room. "Hey! You can't take him away from me! I need to talk to someone about the latest game I got for my Nintendo Gamecube!"

Hank was led through a series of nice hallways, but was disappointed to see that there were not a lot of rich paintings or décor considering he was in the thief mansion. He would find out why later. His short tour, thankfully ending for his head couldn't handle too much, ended in a nice office with rich furnishings. A gentle older woman, about the professor's age, was in the room, and she placed a bowl of soup in front of the doctor after he was seated in a comfortable seat.

A man, perhaps a bit younger then the professor entered the room. He had a face that seemed like it could either be benevolent or belligerent. It was neither at the moment.

"We finally deduced that you are a friend of the girl, but we don't know either of your intentions with my boy, in the body." Hank was surprised at how much the Thieves were able to gather in such a short amount of time. " I would like to know your version of events, seeing as the girl is not…. available to talk. I assume you were at the bar this morning looking for the girl, but I don't know why any of you are here in New Orleans."

"I, too, would like to know what happened last night."

While Hank ate the soup, which did wonders to his health (he was hit in the head, knocked unconscious by a thief, when they found him snooping around the bar), the two men pieced together the puzzle. Apparently, Remy was lucky that a bouncer of the bar routinely checked the back alley. He was even luckier that the bouncer was a member, albeit small member, of the Thieves guild. Even better, he was able to witness Remy use his powers, even if it was from a girl. Remy was saved when the bouncer called his fellow workers to fend off the Assassins.

Although Hank was relieved from the stress he felt when he woke to find Remy/Rogue missing, Jean-Luc, the man and who happened to be Remy's adoptive father, was not happy. He was not in a listening mood either. He sent Hank away, and made calls for a guilds meeting.

**I'm afraid I'm afraid I'm afraid I'm afraid… **

**Afraid, afraid of a ghost. **

"See, Cajun, I told you we could have been saved, and we were!"

"Great."

"Why the sarcasm? That's my department."

"Things are not going the way that I wanted them to. Instead of talking to my father first, I got beat up and no one believes me. Remy going to have to go through a lot of shit from all of the guilds before this is all settled. The meeting I was telling you about? It was only supposed to be a short one, for me to be involved anyway. Now I'll have to stay longer. Remy hates being a part of the guild's meetings. Especially since I thought I atoned for everything. Remy afraid this is going to stir up some more trouble for him."

"It could be worse, you know."

"It always could. But it was never supposed to be this bad in the first place. Remy's sorry, ma chere. You and Remy gonna have to wait a little longer for retirement."

"It's not all it's cracked up to be. The more I'm me, the better, I say. I'm not angry with you. I'm here with you, and I'm not sorry about that fact either."

Remy turned from his back-to-back position with Rogue to stare at her face. He was almost sorry that nothing could ever happen between the two of them, he never felt more close a girl before, not even, to an extent, to Genevieve. She was the most headstrong girl he met. Considering the circumstances, if he had to be trapped with anyone else, he thought it would be torture. He told her so.

She just laughed. "Don't give up hope yet, Cajun, we just might have a cure yet." He smiled, and raised her imaginary hand to give it an imaginary kiss.

It was the second time during their time trapped together that Remy made her feel, mentally and physically, and she blushed.

**A shout out to all the reviewers… Thanks! It's all appreciated! Stories wouldn't continue w/o the reviews! Love the observations, comments and encouragement! Keep 'em coming! **


	8. BreedPart2

I don't really like this chapter, but it has to be done. It's one of those that you just can't ignore or the story will be lacking. Which is probably why it took SOOOOO long to be written and posted. So sorry to you all who might like this story, hopefully it will be more interesting after this is done with.

**Even if you have **

**Even if you need **

**I don't mean to stare **

**We don't have to breed **

**We could plant a house **

**We could build a tree **

**I don't even care **

**We could have all three **

Politics. Many blood sucking creatures, and such a boring subject. Well, to Remy anyway. As far as he was concerned, he was a pawn piece. There is no glory in being called a pawn piece, but if he were to be a leader, it would be the end of "Remy" as the world knows him.

Maybe not exactly a pawn anymore, that's too harsh, not after the whole Genevieve / Sabertooth debacle. Being forced to think is a bitch, especially when ignorance is bliss. But when the alternative is loosing another worthy person to lack of caring, things must change.

Even still, Remy could care less about rules and regulations. Sitting in the highly furnished basement of "Jim's Bar", the safe haven for both guilds, Remy just spaced out. Rouge was sleeping at the moment. Of course the meeting was about him and what would happen to him, and of course Dr. Hank McCoy and Rogue was also affected, but Remy was so used to doing what others wanted him to do. Why do you think pawns are so expendable? They're having too much fun with their free time not thinking and end up killing them selves. Remy is one of those that survive the game for another, and realize there is more then originally thought. And if life were a chess game, he would have turned into a knight. But life is not a chess game, it is a complicated and changing living thing that takes a 500 plus book to even get an idea of what to do and expect. Even pawns have feelings, families, friends and a brain.

And how was our favorite thief using his brain? Very carefully, making no straining thought that would further deteriorate it; he wanted to keep his beautiful mind intact.

Sarcasm. Gotta love it.

After his time with Rogue and her thoughts, it was every blissful moment to the fullest. And politics makes for a very impatient hothead.

"So what do you think, Remy?"

"Huh…? Well, Remy thinking his life is great, and he needs to make Rogue's more complete before we loose our collective minds. I was thinking of taking her to…"

"Ever the stupid, arrogant jerk!" Shouted Bella. "Why can't you ever be serious?" Turning to address her father, Marius Bordeaux, "Pere, I suggest that we botch the whole affair and…."

"And What!" Exclaimed one her own subordinates, "We just give up the whole idea of peace? Let ourselves get killed, our loved ones? I lost…."

"We know your story, Lumiere." Marius stated, "We all know your story, and the stories of everybody in both guilds. That's why Jean Luc and I are striving for peace. What I suggest is that we adjourn for now and come back in, say, two days to continue? What do you think, Mr. LeBeau? Gives you and the rest of the Thieve guild a chance to think over the proposal?" What he was really saying was to give a chance for Remy to understand the new plan, and Jean Luc LeBeau got the underlying message.

After agreeing for adjourning, the two guilds left the bar. Remy was placed in his father's limo, sitting between two thieves and across from his father.

"So, pere, what does Remy have to do this time for the good of the guild?"

Remy's father sighed, shook his head and looked out the window. After a few moments, he spoke, "Your mother would be heart-broken to hear what I'm about to suggest. You know, when we adopted you, it was like our lives couldn't have been better. Between you, Henri and all of your cousins, there was no amount of darkness in our business that could chase away the joys you gave us.

"I think all of the crap surrounding this life, for me anyway, started 6 years ago when your mother was murdered by one of the Assassins. You would think that would get me all worked up and ready to bring the war to a whole different level, but it didn't. I don't know if I've ever told you why I started to search for peace between the two guilds?"

Jean-Luc turned from the window to look at the body of the girl who imprisoned his son unintentionally, to see the beautiful face with his son's eyes shake a sad no. He turned his attention to the scenery outside before continuing his speech.

"There was no reason for it anymore."

The limo stopped at the LeBeau mansion and Jean-Luc stepped out briskly and walked, not towards his home, but off to the side where the entrance to the gardens was. Remy would have followed, but "his" guards escorted him to where he and Hank were under house arrest. Only Hank wasn't there.

In the gardens of the Lebeau mansion, Hank was walking with Mattie, Remy's Tante. They were discussing poems, mostly about their favorites. It was an interesting debate, the short but powerful poems of Emily Dickinson vs. the Spanish eloquence of Pablo Neruda translated into English.

Coming up behind them unnoticed, Jean-Luc listened for a while before putting in his own input, "I could never understand such deep shit. Me? I'm partial to the poetry of jazz, the soul of the blues, or the cry of soul…. " He turned to address Mattie, "Remy and Rogue are back in the room, and I think they might be a bit frustrated, you think you could check up on them?"

As she left with a courteous wave to the good doctor, Jean-Luc put his hand on Hank and steered him further into the gardens. "Since Mattie trusts you outside, I will do so too. Besides, I could use someone to talk to, and you seem a man of much thought."

Hank did not respond to this, he just let himself be steered towards the edge of the gardens, where the LeBeau property ended and where there was a weeping willow next to a river. There was a bench there facing the tree and the river, and the two men sat there.

After a few minutes of sitting silently, Jean Luc started his tale. "This is where I proposed to Juliana. This is where we talked about our plans, our goals, the goals of the guild, and what we were going to do when we conquered both guilds.

"Out talks, as you can imagine, changed. The world is big McCoy, as you know, and we were just finding this out. Our guilds, they're restricted to New Orleans, and so were our lives. Don't get me wrong we love New Orleans. But… the changing world will eventually reach our corner. So will kids. The war was something that we never saw as scary or wrong until we had nieces, nephews … sons. It suddenly became all we could do to protect them and their innocence. They became adults and we hoped they would see what we saw, but they did not."

"Juliana was murdered. It just didn't seem worth it anymore, protecting them in a world we didn't believe in anymore. Instead of feeling anger towards the Assassins, I felt guilty; it was partly my fault, staying in it when I knew the crap going on. So that's when I started to work towards peace. Then Remy's tragedy in Paris made it worse.

"I want out, I truly do. But I can't, I have too many obligations and ties, mostly family. Henri is wrapped up in it too, not seeing what I do. Not yet. But Remy, he has a chance, but at a cost I admit. I won't tell you what it is, you, but I do want your advice. Should I give him the choice or just force him, like I want to, to make his life better?"

Hank knew what his answer was, but took his time figuring out how he was going to say it. He wondered if it was a trick, he wondered if it was some type of trap, but he looked at the leader of the Thieves' Guild and was convinced of Jean Luc's sincerity. Tears were silently flowing down his cheeks.

Turing back to look at the beautiful river, he spoke, "There's always a choice. I believe you know this, I believe you want to give Remy his chance. What I think is holding you back is the fear that Remy still has loyalties to the guild and will not make the choice you want him to. Instead of letting him make the wrong choice, though it is his choice, you would force him just to protect him. Although parents are responsible to make choice for their children for their own good and against the children's whims, Remy is no longer a child. He hasn't be a child, in age or mentality, since his trip to Paris. You should talk to him, make him understand your point of view and let him make his choice, then support him whatever his choice.

"I also think you are forgetting about his predicament. He is stuck in a body with two other people, and their lives, memories he has to share. Though he might want one thing, he has to consider Carol and Rogue. Most people would be selfish, like Carol is, but I sincerely think Remy is capable of a wise decision. Especially since he's the most sane person in there right now and has to step up to the plate."

A pause. A chuckle. "He was never wise. Smart, yes, creative, yes, but not wise. But I have changed, what's to say that the Paris and… Bayville… incidents haven't changed him too?"

The men talked some more till the sun went down. Jean Luc escorted Hank back to the mansion and then asked Remy to accompany him to his office.

It was past midnight when the two were done talking. They had not come out for dinner or for anything. As Remy walked into the room he and Hank were restricted to, Hank couldn't help but think that Rogue's body looked somewhat like a zombie's.

"So, what happened, my young friend?"

"We're leaving in the morning, and Remy is to never to come back here again." And that was that. They went to sleep.

It was well after 12 noon before they actually left the Lebeau mansion. Hank and Mattie exchanged numbers, to the surprise of everybody. Remy said long good-byes to everybody. The Assassins were there too, mostly to make sure that the plan was going to be followed. Bella punched the body of Rogue in the stomach, unable to get her anger satiated. The plan was not in her favor, and she was dragged away by her own men. It was the last time Remy would ever see her, and he was strangely happy about that. It could have been because Rogue was slightly jealous, but no one considered it.

It was on the road that Hank finally asked what the plan was.

"Remy banned from the guild. Probably should change his name. Never to contact them again, never to receive help, money, protection or services. Completely severed. If Remy were to stay a guild member, like he wanted, would have had to deny Rogue any existence and loose any place in the hierarchy. Could deal with being a low-life thief, but not essentially killing Rogue. Would have gotten out of marriage, but not the way he wanted. My life is over."

Hank did not know what to say. He was surprised at Remy's lack of optimism at this point.

They reached the limits of Louisiana, and Remy continued to speak, "I would have done anything to stay in the guild, short of marrying Bella or killing someone I care for. I yelled at my father, told him that the thieves and the assassins have everything and we could make this work. I didn't care what they would make me do.

"He refused. Said we have to consider both guilds. Bastards, all of them."

The silence came and dominated the rest of the ride that day.

Back at the mansion, Eric Magnus Lensherr was in the med lab, a cruel smile on his face. In the lab laid the comatose bodies of Remy, Xavier, Warren, Logan, and Raven. He walked out and moved towards the foyer where his "new" recruits were, under the supervision of his second-in-command, Cecelia St. Marie.

He addressed her, "Good job Bender. Are you sure you can not persuade the others to join us?" she shook her head no. "A pity." He turned to the other people in the room, "So glad some of you changed your minds about my cause. I assure you, you will not regret it. I must demand that you go by your mutant name from now on, the human name serves no purpose. From now on, you will be Cyclops, Storm, Phoenix, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Iceman, Magma, Boom-Boom, Berserker, and…. what was your mutant name?"

The girl, formerly known as Jubilation Lee, told him in a drone voice that she didn't have one.

"Then you will now be called Sparkler." Commanded Magneto. He turned to Cecelia, "When will the rest of my followers join us, Bender?"

"They will be here within the end of the week, my lord."

"Good." He walked out to enjoy the scenery the mansion had to offer, without having to fight for it.

Who knows when the next time will be for the next update? It took almost a year before this update. Any who, rest and realx…. No no no no, sorry, read and review! Heeheehee.


	9. Drain You

And I figured out how I'll update quicker – shorter chapters. Hopefully that plan will work out.

And there is an explanation about who Cecelia St. Marie is as part of the story.

Disclaimers abound. Even Cecelia is an inspired character from many different other characters.

**One baby to another says -**

**I'm lucky to have met you**

Somewhere in the state of Georgia, in a 18th century mansion renovated as a hotel, Hank McCoy was cooking dinner, and Rogue/Remy was laying in a bathtub, surrounded by bubbles, looking to the outside world as bored of life as anything. On the inside, Remy was sitting in the group of trees designated the depressing area, and Rogue was trying to cheer him up.

"Wasn't it your choice to leave the guild? Didn't Jean-Luc give you the option? I was there, don't you remember? Gosh, you guys must have talked forever! Isn't this what you wanted?"

"Non."

"I thought you had a choice."

"Mon pere basically said Remy should go, 'cause staying would mean denying you life. Funny, Remy couldn't let that happen, even after all the other girls Remy has taken advantage of."

"Well…. Huh, what do you say to something like that? Oh, Remy, I'm _really_ sorry you had to make that choice. I wish I could take back time and… I don't know, kill Carol before the situation got out of hand...? I'm SO sorry…."

A silence fell. A few minutes passed and Rogue walked away when it looked like Remy wasn't going to contribute anything. After a few more minutes, Remy sighed and followed Rogue to her spot next to her favorite fake weeping willow tree. Sitting down and placing a hand on her shoulder, he spoke without looking at her…

"Non, cherie, its Remy who is sorry, after all you have done for him. No, let me finish," as Rogue was about to interrupt to ask what she had done, "Remy was scarred, and he never admits this to anyone. Remy doesn't want to leave the only life he has known, even if it is time to move on.

"Growing up in New Orleans was awesome, Remy loved it and never wanted anything to change. Of course Remy traveled the world, but it was always traveling with some of the guild, and on business for the guild.

"Remy was looking for the easy way out of the marriage, out of the pain of Paris, and in a way, you did give me an easy way out, Remy didn't have to do anything except get drained. So…. The solution was easy, living the solution is not.

"You asked me if this is what Remy wanted, well… no it is not what Remy wants, it's what he needs, and he don't have to be happy about it." And with that, he got up and walked away.

**Chew your meat for you**

**Pass it back and forth**

**In a passionate kiss**

**From my mouth to yours**

**I like you**

Rogue woke up in the bathtub, tears flowing down her face. Getting out of the tub, she looked through Remy's memories and realized what he was giving up was insanely priceless, and drying herself off, she almost wished she could have grown up with Tante Mattie's scolding wooden spoon and with cousins with which to have fun with.

But, while putting clothes on, she thought of her father and stepmother, plus Uncle Charlie and Auntie O, and all her surrogate siblings, not to forget her half-brother, and she realized she had priceless memories too. And with all the students (and teachers) that come and go from the mansion, there was never a dull moment either. While Remy had a great childhood, he couldn't deal with changing times and with new people as well as she could.

Leaving the bathroom and walking towards the kitchen to help Beast with the cooking, she formulated a plan to cheer him up.

"Hey, Remy, it's time to eat! Come up and get some!"

"And how do you propose Remy do that when you are still in charge, Chere?"

"Simple, we'll share the body."

"… You must be going crazy, Cherie…. Again, that is."

"Maybe, but it'll work just trust me. Oh, come _ON!_"

Hank McCoy rarely listened to a person talk to them selves, as he was a scientist, not a psychologist, but he sighed knowing that with Rogue and Gambit's particular circumstance, he would most likely be hearing it a lot. Most especially now, after he and Rogue talked about the ill effects of being in control at the same time. Hank actually thought it would speed up the degenerative process on the brain, but Rogue convinced him to allow her to try it, saying it was going towards cheering up Remy. Hank did not see how, but Rogue would not take no for an answer.

He was also convinced to let her cook Jambalaya, but was hesitant. She may have the memories of someone who lived with a world class Cajun cook, but that didn't mean Remy was that great a cook or that Rouge could imitate the greatness; reading cooking directions wasn't all that it took to make a great meal… look at Kitty…

As it was, he refused to take a bite until he heard what Remy had to say about the meal. He watched as the two-toned Rogue took a bite of her concoction.

"Mmmm… Chere, you make some good Jambalaya. Not as good as Remy or Tante, but good."

"Told you I could semi-cook! At least it wasn't Kitty who tried to make this to cheer you up… now haul some ass and get up here so you can taste it with real taste buds!"

Hank watched in amusement and scientific fascination as Rogue became two-toned in eye color as well, one green and one red/black; and both southerners enjoyed the southern food together. After being satisfied that Rogue didn't destroy a southern tradition, he set himself to eat some too.

Later on that same night, Remy and Rogue were still sharing Rogue's body, and were in the same tub as before (but with more bubbles, and a more cheerful mood) and were still "talking to her/him self".

"Thanks, Chere, for the meal."

"No problem."

"Seriously…. You made Remy feel tons better with all the southern stuff you did earlier. He especially liked the yellow daisies on the table, your idea?"

"No, Mr. McCoy helped with it all and that was his idea. I take credit for the food and jazz music."

"Remind Remy to thank him later…. Rogue…? Remy only known you for about a few weeks now, and already you mean more then any other woman. He don't even know why. Is it all the memories we've shared without really having to talk? Did we just go around all that dating crap and just know one another?"

"I guess. I mean, we can relate to each other and everything…. And we're somewhat similar too… but I don't know where you get feelings out of it… wouldn't we be considered 'just friends' now?"

"Hehehehe… well, since you don't have to look at Remy's real face everyday, you of course haven't fallen for Remy's good looks yet, but Remy's just drunk with your body that he sees and feels everyday. Remy be most respectful to such a belle femme, but tonight, he wants to thank you for your kindness…"

"…Huh…?"

"You know what a flirt Remy is, all he wants is to give you a passionate kiss, from my real mouth to yours, see were it goes." With that, Remy finally moved the shared body for the first time since going into the bathtub, placing the hand on the stomach, as if to scratch an imaginary itch.

"Too bad about the whole kiss, not so sure you're my type, you know, rich and blonde and bitchy. As it is… hey what are you doing?!" Which was her reaction to the hand moving purposefully lower down the abdomen.

"Just giving you some passion the only way Remy knows how."

"Um…. I'm not sure I want this to happen!"

"Same here. Kinda weird feeling it like a woman feels it, but life is about taking chances, non? Just trust me."

"…Remy…?"

"Shhh… Just let Remy do this for you…. I like you."

**I don't care what you think**

**Unless it is about me**

**It is now my duty to completely drain you**

**A travel through a tube**

**And end up in your infection**

Cecelia St. Marie walked in through her "daughter's" room, contemplating the only offspring that survived her abortions. There was no love lost, only pride in knowing that she gave birth to an Omega class mutant waiting to be manifested. If she could only manipulate her before her mind and powers got too strong….

She was now almost in her 50's, as was Magneto, Xavier and Mystique, but she still lusted after the opposite sex, and lusted after killing and destroying, and still never wanted to be in charge; which was why she still tolerated Magneto. She blamed Weapon-X for being submissive, but then they gave her a long live, enabling her to still look hot and kick ass, and that's where she fucked Wolverine, so they were even. That was before Mystique came into Weapon-X, though.

Thinking on Raven, Cecelia felt a pang of jealousy. Not for Logan, fuck no, who cares about that hairy bastard? But for the fact that some bitch was able to take the attention of a man off of her, how in the fucked-upped universes was that possible?! He left her, and went to Raven.

Of course, she would have left him as soon as they made it out of Weapon-X (of that, there was no doubt), but she was still angry with that.

So… she continued reminiscing, they both became pregnant (her with one month down before SHE showed up at Weapon-X), and Logan somehow convinced her not to abort number 7 at the time, and the government run Weapon-X didn't do anything about the pregnancies.

After Cecelia gave birth to Rogue, and Raven was still pregnant with Kurt, they, along with other mutants in Weapon-X, escaped and torched the place to the ground. Cecelia was able to go on her own way without anyone knowing, and she hasn't heard about or seen Logan, Rogue or Raven since, preferring to continue her mercenary work for the highest bidder, human or mutant. She had no idea if Logan and Raven stayed together or what became of the babies, and personally didn't care about it, until now.

She hooked up with Magneto after the whole Carol Danvers fiasco, when he was looking for new mutants to fill his ranks, preferably dangerous killers. She could care less, except for the 1 million dollars every 6 months. (Where he got the money, she could only assume, and could care less.)

Now, her past has come to meet her, and she's starting to feel alive and excited again. Maybe she can finally kill the blue bitch? Maybe Magneto will let her keep James Logan Howlette as a sex slave? Maybe she can bend the will of Rogue to be a killing machine, such as herself? Hey, she may be dip-shit for a mother, but she still carries crazy dreams for her offspring (most are inventive ways of aborting, but Rogue's an exception).

Cecelia "Bender" St. Marie left the room, evil smile on her face, and went to Magneto's office to get rid of that horny itch she's been feeling since she woke up that morning.


	10. Barney's Song

**Enchantedlight, Freak87** – I have no idea why you guys stayed a fan of my work for so long, but you guys rock! **Freak87**- I sometimes get ideas on what to write from your comments, or, more precisely, from your questions. Love it! Thanks!

**A N. 1:** There is no song for this chapter as none seemed to fit. I'm actually thinking of not using songs for all the chapters, just the more emotional ones.

**A. N. 2: **Obviously, I cannot write short chapters when I say I will (like the last one). So here is how it will work from now on, I will not obsess about how long a chapter will be, just put them up when they're satisfyingly done.

Remy (in charge of Rogue's body for the time being) and Hank (with this image inducer on) were done their adventures traveling to and from Louisiana, and it was the middle of the afternoon of a fine October day when they drove up to the gates of the Xavier Mansion.

What they saw was not what they were expecting: guards guarding the gate, and they were closed. They were never closed unless it was after 9 pm. The guards (there were two of them and they were dressed in civvies, no knowing if they were mutants or not) walked up to the car, one on each side. The two occupants looked at each other in alarm, and prepared for the worst. Remy put on his shades, not knowing if it was base-human guards, and reached for the deck of cards in the jeans pocket.

The guard on the driver side leaned down and addressed Hank in a bored way, as if he would rather be anywhere else, "Baseline or mutant?" He was on the short side, but lean, and had orange hair and olive green eyes. His eyes seemed dull, as if something had taken the life out of them, but neither car occupants cared to explore that further.

Hank answered with a question, "What happened here, to the mansion?"

"That's not your concern, now." The other guard replied, who happened to be female, with blonde hair and blue eyes, which were also dull, as if her spirit were broken. She turned into what looked like diamond shelling, and spoke again, "Your concern is whether our lord will want your kind in his stronghold."

There was a few seconds of a quiet standoff, when Hank spoke again, "He will not want us. We will go quietly. Sorry to bother you." And with that, he drove slowly away, the guards allowing them to go. Hank refused to answer Remy's questions till they were far enough away.

When they were back on main roads, Hank stopped at Puss 'N Boots, a bar, and went in, followed by Remy.

"I need to speak to Barney, it is urgent." Hank told the bartender.

"Don't matter if it's urgent or not, depends on who you are if you see the big shot owner or not."

"Tell him it is Hank McCoy. If it does not ring a bell, tell him it is his buddy… Beast."

"OK. Take a seat and I'll see if he'll want to talk to ya."

Hank and Remy sat at a booth while the bartender went to see if Barney was available.

"Mon ami, mind telling Remy what's going on?"

"I have reason to believe that Magnus has taken over the mansion, though I am not sure how."

"That putain that Rogue refers as 'Ol' Bucket Head'? What clue did you pick up that Remy didn't back there?"

"The blond guard has worked for Magnus before, though I thought she quit to join the Hellfire Club. I do not remember much about her. She also referred to a 'lord', and Magnus has the propensity to call himself that, unless her new boss does that too. However, I would discount that considering the orange-haired guard, he is too young to be a candidate for the Hellfire Club. No, I am sure Magnus has taken over the mansion,"

"OK. Next question, why are we here?"

"Because this is actually one of the few mutant sanctuaries in New York, as a whole state. Good thing it is right by the mansion… Anyway, another reason we are here is Barney, the owner. He is a good friend of Logan, and will most likely know something, no matter how small, about what has happened. Hopefully it will lead us on the right track to fixing whatever is wrong.

"Ah… he is coming. As you can imagine, Remy, he knows Rogue very well, so… I hate asking you this, but stay quiet, he will know if something is wrong with you and we do not need more then one problem right now, OK?"

"Gambit understands, mon ami."

A man in his late early 60's came up to their booth. He was tall, had a beer belly, and what looked like a muscular frame (sans the belly) and had the nicest face that you did NOT want to mess with. Remy could see how Barney was Logan's friend, and wished there were more people he could have an easy time being friends with. Another good thing about being in Rogue's body was that he didn't have to try to impress any of Logan's friends then he had too when he met them. Not that he would have met them if he weren't stuck in Rogue's body… that train of thought went dangerously close to depression and/or anger, so Remy focused again on what was happening.

"Hey, Beast, what's up, man?" Not waiting for a response, the brown eyed, peppered hair man turned to Remy/Rogue, "What's up with your old man? Haven't seen him for over a month, starting to worry here."

Not bothering with being rudely ignored, it was just something Barney (and sometimes Logan) did, Hank spoke up without any formalities, "The mansion has been taken over by Magneto, it is possible Logan is captured, or worse…. We were wondering if you had heard anything?"

Barney stared unbelievingly at Hank for a few minutes. He then looked around the bar, and then gestured the two of them to follow him, apparently unsatisfied with the privacy of the near-empty bar at 3:30 in the afternoon. Upon arriving in his office, the door was closed behind him, and he started to talk.

"I don't want Donnie to overhear this, he already thinks I'm nuts for still running a bar at my age, so no need to add to it… But I've been hearing voices. Or rather one voice."

At the perplexed look Hank gave him (Remy/Rogue was still wearing the shades, nothing was given away to his emotions), Barney laughed.

"Not the best explanation for anything at all… but every night (or early morning, however you wanna look at it), when I'm relaxed and sipping a lager, working on the night's cash flow, I hear a voice that sounds oddly like your professor's. Since I don't rightly know what he sounds like since he don't come in often, I just attribute it to old age, the beer, and it being quiet at that time. Spooks like to come at times like those.

"I don't want to go to the psychiatrist, damn crooks are only after money and a book offer, but I was nearly ready to crack after the last few nights. The voice is coming in strong…"

He grew quiet after that, as if contemplating why such a travesty should befall him, and Remy grew impatient. He cleared her throat, and both the other men shot him a look, one warningly and the other in slight embarrassment.

"Sorry kid, just thinking. Anyway, you probably are wonderin' what the voice says. Well, it says it has been drugged and that I should seek help from a certain Remy and a Hank. I have no idea who the hell Remy is, and I assumed Hank was a friend of this Remy, so I didn't think of you, Beast."

He looked like he was going to say more, but Hank interrupted him, "Did the voice say anything else?"

"As a matter of fact, it did. It said that the password was 'red3blue2yellow1'. What the hell does that mean?"

"My friend, it is a way into the mansion with out physically entering. Thank you very much for helping."

"No problem. Hey, do you think the voice will go away now?"

"Just tell it that you talked to Beast today and told him everything. It should go away. Would you mind if we stayed in one of the safe houses underground till tomorrow?"

"Sure, no problem, that's what they are there for. Let me help you get settled."

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Hank filled out some notes in his notebook and ignored the questions posed by Remy; only saying "tomorrow is going to be interesting."


	11. Pennyroyal Tea

**A.N. **I'm going to change my pen name. The one I currently have does not really fit my personality. Besides, I've been leaving reviews under this different name. Look out for RedSmileyFace next chapter, which might be sometime in late January.

**Disclaimer: **Disclaimed.

**Merry Christmas!! **

**I'm on my time with everyone**

**I have very bad posture**

A small feminine body, dressed all in black with shades, crept through the tunnels of the Xavier Mansion, tunnels that Magneto did not know about, even though he helped to build the school. Remy was told that they were build after Magneto left Xavier's to follow his own ideas of human/mutant relations.

After Hank deciphered the password and was able to hack into the mansion mainframe, he, Remy and Rogue planned a recon mission. Barney gave them whatever supplies they asked him to buy from the store, which included ear communicators and a laptop. It came off of Xavier's account, of course, which Hank had access too.

When Gambit reached a dead end, he stopped for a moment to listen for sound on the other side. When he didn't hear anything, he walked through the metal barrier and entered the danger room. Remy was told it was a gift from Forge, where you could walk through it on one side and it opened up with hard force from the other side. It was relatively a secret in the mansion.

Hank was back at Barney's and made sure that none of the red dots on the map on the computer screen (people) were near Remy's green dot, and silently thanked his stars and garters for such unusual ingenuity on Professor X's part to make a system he could hack into to control the mansion's sensors, including allowing the cameras to go on a continuous loop of empty hallways so the guards wouldn't know someone was sneaking around. It made the tiptoeing around much easier, especially when they got to the computer room.

Remy was wondering why the secret tunnels didn't automatically connect to the computer room, but he was told that the computer room came after the tunnels, during the late 90's computer boom, and it was difficult to connect it to the tunnels. He made his way towards the said place, using his stealth skills, using Rogue's memory of loose floorboards and every now and then changed direction when Hank told him someone was coming his way.

When he finally reached the computer room, Hank informed him of the code to open up the door, and he entered, basking in the bluish glow of the mainframe. And waited for Hank's instructions.

"Ok, Remy, there does not seem to be anyone near the computer room, so place the device in the USB port and press the send button, and everything should be transferred to my laptop. Just be careful, because my computer will not be able to both receive information and show the mansion. You will be on your own for about 10 minutes."

"Got it, mon ami." Remy looked for a hiding place in the room, and cursed. There were none. Praying that something so stupid as hiding under the computer desk would work, he hid under the computer desk, and positioned the swivel chair in front him. He cursed again, knowing that Rogue's body would have back pains in the morning. Not for the first or last time, did he wish he were in his own, lean body, which would have bent nicely in the tiny square hollow underneath the computer.

**I'm so tired I can't sleep**

**I'm a liar and a thief**

**Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea**

**Distill the life that's inside of me**

"Remy! Where are you going?"

"Calm down, mon ami. Remy just checking to see if his body still looks good."

The information was done being transferred to Hank's laptop, and Remy was supposed to be heading towards the danger room exit, but instead he was taking a side trip to the med bay, gloomy as the place was. When he came upon his body, all comatose and good looking, he couldn't help but smile, even thought there was nothing to be happy about, in his own thoughts.

Hank was saying something, but Remy didn't notice, or even care. He then frowned. "I'm sorry, Rogue. Didn't mean to make you go crazy… seem to have that effect on a lot of women, heh… Maybe if I leave, you can have a good life? Remy certainly doesn't deserve it."

He contemplated who would miss him, and came up with only a few people, and they seemed fine banishing him from the only home he loved. He contemplated all the less then legal things he participated in, and not just the thieving, and he prayed that whoever was in charge of the Big Picture would be willing to forgive him. Funny, he never really thought about the things he'd done in life, but ever since waking up in a new body, watching people of another life style then his, and seeing the effects of the Carol incidents; he had something of a wake up call. He didn't know what to make of anything, and how was anything supposed to mix with his past? He was clueless.

He contemplated Rogue, who, in just a few short weeks, knew him more then any other woman he met. And he just had to ruin that rare friendship to take care of some stupid urge? She most likely hated him for giving her something hardly magical, something that most likely made her feel disgusting.

There really wasn't anything worth keeping him around, and he was positive nothing wanted him to stick around.

He heard Rogue screaming in his head that he got it all wrong, but he knew it was just pity. He pulled his cards and bo staff out of the pockets, and placed them next to his real body. "Be sure Remy gets buried with these, ma cherie."

Remy took one last minute to think about what he was doing. Considering it the right thing, he reached for the plug of the machine keeping him alive, and pulled it.

"Remy!! There's someone behind you!"

**I'm on warm milk and laxatives**

**Cherry-flavored antacids**

**Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld**

**So I can sigh eternally**

Rogue whirled around, taking over since the silly Cajun seemed too preoccupied with himself, and glared at the intruder. It was Betsy, in her full X-Men outfit.

"Betsy!" Cried Rogue, assuming an incredulous look, "What are you doing here?"

"That doesn't matter. You are trespassing my lord's lair, defend yourself!" and with that, she lunged at Rogue.

Rogue was surprised, but with Gambit's fighting skills, she was able to dodge the initial attack and was able to pull herself together.

"What's wrong? What did that bucket head do to you?!"

But Betsy was not "programmed" to answer; she instead launched another attack, this time with a close range strategy.

Rogue was able to hold of any serious pain, but she would never have been able to hold her own if not for Gambit's fighting skills inside her head. The fact that the med lab was small and didn't allow Psylocke to attack at 100 percent helped too. They did a dance of martial arts for about a few minutes, when Psylocke pulled back to form her psychic blade, and Rogue didn't waste time pulling back to charge some random object nearby, since Remy's cards where not on hand.

They stood at a standstill for a second, neither wanting to make a foolish move, both eerily illuminated purple and red by their respective powers in the dark med lab.

Rogue was getting impatient though. Afterwards, she blamed the little Carol still in her. As a result, she threw the charged thing–a-bob that she picked up randomly at Psylocke and looked for another object to charge and throw right away.

Psylocke, in the mean time, arched her back, back, and the tiny bomb flew over her stomach and head to explode on the wall behind her (which woke up half the illegal inhabitants in the mansion). When she righted herself from leaning back, Rogue was still looking for an object, so Psylocke lunged towards the preoccupied Rogue, grabbing her from behind, and preceded to position Rogue in a one-armed chokehold. She raised her psychic blade, fully prepared to shove it in Rogue's head/mind, thus knocking her out for a while. However, Rogue's original powers kicked in first to zap Psylocke from the neck to bare forearm contact. Psylocke limped and fell to the ground, out cold. Rogue had a few seconds to process what Psylocke knew about the whole situation, and yelled to Hank,

"It's worse then we thought, Hank!"

"There is no time to tell me now, there are people headed your way! Get out of there!"

And Rogue moved quickly. She first plugged the machine back in, she and Remy were going to have some serious talking to do. Then she ran out of the med lab, running towards a different exit, one that was closer. She escaped the mansion without Magneto or his followers capturing her.

**End Credits….**

**A.N. **So I switched the lyrics around. If you notice, don't get too mad . Also, I really liked writing the fighting scene, cause I really wanted to use both of the southerners' powers in one body, so if anyone else likes it too… PLEASE say something about it! I normally don't beg for reviews, but if you even write one review for however many chapters I write, please be about the fighting scenes!

Also…. How about that Remy angst? Was it Too much? Not enough? Horrible??

**Thanks to the reviewers!! **

**SouthernLoner**

**Enchantedlight**

**Freak87** – you really know how to boost a writer's ego, don't you? Hope I don't disappoint!


	12. Teen Spirit, part 1

**A. N. **so I said the end of January for this update…. Oops. In my defense, it was a tricky chapter to write. So it's only fitting that the song is a tricky and confusing one too.

**Disclaimer: **disclaimed.

**Load up on guns and bring your friends **

**It's fun to lose and to pretend **

**She's over bored and self-assured **

**Oh no, I know a dirty word **

In Professor X's study, early in the morning, Magneto was sitting in his friend/enemy's chair, and he was holding a meeting with his "generals". Bender was sitting across from him, his son, Quicksilver, was on the screen on one computer on his left, and his daughter, Scarlet Witch, was on the screen of another computer, placed on his right side.

Magneto had done most of the talking for the past 20 minutes, relating what had happened last night to his children, whilst Bender sharpened her nails.

"In conclusion," Magneto finished his speech, "I might have to cut my losses with the Xavier mansion, and join one of you. I can't run the risk of Xavier's puppets ruining everything I have worked for since that fateful day Rogue destroyed half of my forces." He spoke with such hatred towards his former "niece", that Bender had to smile. No mutant or human had ever irked her "master" so as her daughter had.

Quicksilver voiced his opinion; "There are lots of rooms up here at Asteroid M for you and the mutants under Bender's control. But, why can't you have Bender and the others fight the remaining x-geeks, take them out once and for all?"

"My son, that is not part of my plan, and I do not underestimate them as much as you do." He paused as his son acknowledged this with a bowing of his head in shame.

"They managed to surprise us last night, and since I do not know where they are operating from, they have the means to do it again; even if there are only one or two of them, even if I double security. They have computer files of my plans, and I must be thankful that the files do not disclose the locations of my bases. Before they move to prevent me from achieving my goal, I must move to surprise them, throw them back a few paces."

"You mean to destroy the mansion, don't you, father?" Questioned Scarlet Witch.

"Yes." Magneto replied. "There is no strategic reason to stay here, other then the sentimentality, and that is a weakness. Scarlet, since you are closer, expect me at the Savage Lands within the week. Are there any questions?"

It was Bender, with an uncharacteristic curiosity, asking "What about the comatose bodies in the medical wing?"

"Try to bend them to our will once more. If they still cannot be persuaded, leave them to be blown up with the rest of the mansion. Anything else?"

There was nothing else, and the meeting was adjourned.

"So Magneto is planning on using peoples' weaknesses against them... Huh?"

"Well, that is how he took over the mansion, Rogue. Apparently, this 'Bender' mutant can manipulate peoples' feelings, and then use them to control them, a version of the 'gifts of persuasion'. From what I gathered from the files Gambit stole, she was recruited by Magneto quite a while ago, months in fact, to work from afar to influence the mansion's inhabitants. Make them fight each other. It is reported that Scott was the easiest. Curious… that must be why he was acting so pompous and like he was the best thing there was the last time we were home…"

"Do you know if she was able to manipulate everyone?"

"She was not, some were not 'moved' at all. They apparently had strong minds, according to Magneto, and were placed into comas, by the psychic blades our very own Betsy."

"Wow. OK, so what's his 'Big Plan'?"

"Well, he has tried to wipe out any human without the x-gene, then he tried to make them all mutants by advancing evolution, and that did not work, either. Some would say 'try again and again', but our friend Magneto likes to try different things. His latest plan is segregation.

"Phase one is to secure a number of sanctuaries. According to his notes, he is done with this, although he neglects to write how many there are and where they exist. Phase two, gather mutants to these areas to live."

"Well, that's the good part… I have a feeling there's more that's not good?"

"My dear…that is the bad part. I am surprised at you, segregation will cause more problems then solve. We exist, humans exist, and we must learn to co-exist. There will be times when we will have to interact, that I am sure of. As wonderful as the sanctuaries might be, how will they exist without imports of some kind? And if we separate ourselves from the rest, humans will only be too kind to see us go and would not help us after we are settled somewhere far.

"And here is the bad part you asked for; our government knows about this, and they are actually setting up laws to keep us out when we are gone and laws forbidding help of any kind for the sanctuaries. And it looks like foreign governments might do the same. How will Kitty keep in touch with her wonderful, human parents if they cannot come to the sanctuaries and Kitty cannot come to the US again? Or any other mutant/human relations that are actually good?

"Another bad part, Magneto plans to force this segregation, it is not a friendly invitation. And the government plans to help with that too, exiling mutants wherever they find them in hiding.

"Rogue, I can understand your frustrations with the whole human/mutant relations, but you must see that this so-called 'solution' would be step backwards, not forward."

There was a moment of silence in the basement of Barney's bar. Neither Rogue nor Hank had slept since the reconnaissance mission last night, and it was now the beginning of the afternoon, and both were exhausted. Hank broke the silence again,

"How about we get some sleep, huh? I still do not have any clue as to how we are going to solve this problem, and I am sure you and Remy need some rest. We will talk later tonight."

Rogue said nothing as she got up and left Hank in the basement, and Hank hoped he didn't get the Rogue too angry with him admonishing her.

It was sunny outside, and the birds were chirping. Inside, the sun was at such an angle that made the room glow with a golden light, reflecting off the polished, dark wooden furniture.

There was a bed in the room, and on the bed was a body housing two people, both who didn't care about the aesthetics of the room. Once they had entered the room, they promptly fell on the bed and fell asleep.

In the physic realm, in Rogue's forest of memory, Rogue was loosing it, her cool and her sanity.

"How could you think that what I said was just pity?" she screamed at Remy. "I hate pity! I hate it when other people pity me, and I also hate the fact that I pity myself. The last thing I would do is pity you, Remy. There really are things and people that want you to stay, namely me! You can't leave me, not now, not after what we shared!"

Gambit really wasn't all that happy with the situation either, "Remy had a lustful feeling, and acted on it. Masturbation is not anything wonderful, Rogue, I used you, and you should hate me for that.

"And, what, Remy supposed to stay alive when only you want me to stay? That's not enough."

Rogue was stunned, if only for a minute. Remy started to regret what he said, but wasn't about to take it back. He truly felt that way, and couldn't see how one person made the difference in another.

She clenched her jaw, and hands and slit her eyes. "You… miserable… spoiled… selfish, SWAMP RAT!!" At this point, all the psyches that Rogue had ever absorbed started coming towards them, wondering what the noise was about. Neither southerner paid attention, so Rogue continued her tirade, "The only contact of love anyone has have ever given to me, and you say it was nothing? It wasn't nothing, it was something! Stop trying to convince yourself that I'm mad at you for it.

"Now, I'm mad at your stupidity! 'I'm not enough'? Where the hell are you coming from? Oh, that's right! Backwater, hick town full of fuckers! Of course, there were TONS of people to love you, to stroke your ego. Well, it's time to realize that that isn't what life is about. You are not a god, and I dare you to name one person in your past that has made as much a difference as I have. You can't, can you? And I know this! I know all about you!" With that, she stalked away, leaving a fuming Remy behind.

And all the psyches followed Rogue, like lost children.

**With the lights out, it's less dangerous. **

**Here we are now, entertain us,**

**I feel stupid and contagious. **

**Here we are now, entertain us.**

It was now nighttime. Rogue, or what remained of Rogue, stood in front of the Xavier gates. Using the powers of Psylocke, she located Magneto and, using Nightcrawler's powers, bamfed into the same room as Magneto, which happened to be in Xavier's study.

Magneto neither jumped nor looked at Rogue, just kept looking at his reports, as if he were expecting her. "Something I can do for you, Rogue?"

"I am not Rogue."

This got his attention. He looked at her, and noticed her all black eyes. "What happened? Who are you?" He stood up, getting in touch with everything metal in the room, not liking something he was not prepared for.

Rogue's body did not answer at first, as if it didn't know itself. Then it answered, "Call me Bob, I've always liked that name. I've liked it for as long as I've existed. That would be around 2 hours, in case you were wondering. Anyway, I'm here because my mom, Rogue, knows about your plans, and I want to join you. She doesn't want to join, but then again, she's not in charge is she? She had a mental breakdown. Oh! That's how I was born. Neat experience, really. It's like…"

"Stop." Interjected Magneto. "Are you some type of alien? What do you want from me?"

"I told you, I want to join you. Silly! Haha… and I am no alien. At least I don't think so. I have no idea what I am."

"Forgive me if I don't quit believe you. And forgive me for holding a grudge against… your mom." With that, he knocked Bob out with a hit to the back of Bob's head.

**End Credits**

Oh boy. Well… Rogue/Gambit/Bob are trapped in the mansion. I bet y'all will be able to guess what they'll do in there! And don't worry, Bob is not a new character, I'll explain later what Bob is, unless you can figure it out .

And we know Magneto's plan now! Yea! That was a hard part. And the argument between Rogue and Gambit went nowhere, sorry about that. But they will kiss and make up before the end, don't worry!

**Thanks reviewers!**

**enchantedlight – **always awesome to receive your encouragements!

**SouthernLoner – **thanks for encouraging me to continue, and hope you liked the argument scene.

**Freak87 – **thanks for the commentary. Glad you liked how I wrote Remy, and hope I don't disappoint with the argument scene.


	13. APOLOGY from AUTHOR

I am SOO sorry to any readers of my story. These past two months (march and april) have been hell, and my computer died three weeks ago. I will not be able to continue this story for a long while because any time I'm on a computer it is in a computer lab on campus, and really, who wants to spend a long time in the lab? I am really sorry, and hope you all come back to read when I start again (hopefully) in the beginning of summer.

Thanks again for the patience, and I'll see you later.

All the Best,

RedSmileyFace


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